Is Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy finally cracking up owing to the conflict and power tussle within the JD(S)-Congress coalition?
Amid fears of the BJP attempting another 'operation lotus' (poaching of MLAs to topple the coalition government), Kumaraswamy has been spitting fire against BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa.
On Thursday, Kumaraswamy urged people to revolt against the BJP and Yeddyurappa, triggering a war of words between the arch rivals. The BJP has demanded legal action against the chief minister for the alleged threats he made, dubbing them “seditious”.
A day after Kumaraswamy, during a public meet, admitted that he had undergone two heart surgeries and was struggling to discharge his duties owing to BJP's efforts to destabilise the government, the chief minister again lashed out at Yeddyurappa and threatened to reopen the cases against the latter. “Yeddyurappa is living in a glass house and he should be careful. Let me remind him that I hold the power today and will reopen his cases. I will order a detailed probe into the Shivaram Karanth Layout land denotification case. If the BJP does not behave itself, I will exhort the people to revolt against the BJP,” said Kumaraswamy, while addressing a public meet in Hassan.
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A furious BJP, which called an emergency press meet, declared that Kumaraswamy's threats were unconstitutional and amounted to “sedition” and demanded that the state police register a suo motu case against the chief minister under Section 153 of the IPC. “A chief minister should not behave like a goon. Soon after Kumaraswamy called for a revolt, goons created a ruckus outside Yeddyurappa's residence and the police remained mere spectators. Is this a state sponsored attack? The police should file a case against the miscreants who tried to attack a former chief minister and the leader of the opposition. The CM should step down if he is unable to control the revolt within his party and by the Congress MLAs. Instead, he is blaming the BJP,” said deputy leader of the opposition Govind Karjol.
“We will approach the governor seeking his intervention. Kumaraswamy's act amounts to sedition. In the history of Karnataka, no chief minister has stooped so low as to threaten a leader of the opposition,” said former home minister R. Ashok.
Earlier in the day, Yeddyurappa had dubbed the CM's family “commission agents' family” and charged that no development work was taking place owing to the friction between the coalition partners. Kumaraswamy, in turn, taunted Yeddyurappa, stating that he was the “commission pithamah”, who started the practice during his tenure as the chief minister. The CM also reminded Yeddyurappa that he has been in jail.
Taking strong objection to Kumaraswamy's remarks, BJP MLA N. Ravikumar reminded the CM that Yeddyurappa had been acquitted by both the High Court and the Supreme Court in the cases. “Kumaraswamy will have to justify how Deve Gowda's family accumulated wealth worth crores of rupees when Deve Gowda owned only two acres and 30 guntas of land when he had fought his first elections in 1962,” said Ravikumar.
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To make matters worse, the Congress party is on a firefighting mode owing to the growing dissidence among the MLAs who were denied cabinet berths. Furthermore, the ongoing cold war between Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara and former chief minister Siddaramaiah is threatening the stability of the coalition. The recent face-off between Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Jarkiholi brothers of Belagavi district was only an indication of the things to come. Multiple power centres are spawning within the party. The Congress is shying away from cabinet expansion fearing fresh backlash from its MLAs who have complained of JD(S) highhandedness in transfer of officers and development works in their constituency.
The power tussle between Jarkiholi brothers and Vokkaliga strongman and Kanakapura MLA Shivakumar has provided a platform for the MLAs to voice their concerns to the senior leadership. In fact, Parameshwara and Shivakumar cosying up to JD(S) and Kumaraswamy has irked the Siddaramaiah faction. MLA Satish Jarkiholi and his brother and Municipal Administration Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi have accused Shivakumar of trying to wrest control of Belagavi. However, following marathon meetings with Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy, the brothers seem to have been pacified.
The party leadership is now busy dousing dissent brewing in the Bellary district where all six MLAs are demanding cabinet berths.
The coalition partners have suddenly grown jittery following reports of the Enforcement Directorate filing an FIR against Shivakumar in a hawala case on Wednesday. Both Kumaraswamy and Shivakumar alleged that the BJP is misusing the central agencies for political vendetta as it is hoping to wrest power in Karnataka.