Bangalore: ‘Gowda Politics’ Succeeds in Sidelining Congress in State
by Narayan Swamy - Mysore
(Political Analyst)
Bangalore, Jun 28: For the last three years, Karnataka has been known more for political activities than development or progressive work. No one will disagree with this.
While Yeddyurappa is facing threats to his chair at every step, the Gowda family is going strong by exposing scams and giving sleepless nights to Yeddyurappa.
On the other hand, the Congress, whose popularity is reportedly decreasing in the state day by day, is suddenly appearing before the public and will disappear after sometime without making much impact.
The basic rule of politics 'You do 5 rupee work, and get 500 rupee publicity' seems to work fine with both BJP and JD(S).
If BJP initiates development work, then next move is the full page advertisement in all daily news papers of the state.
But for JD(S), they don't need any 'developmental' work to advertise, but take some 'papers' with the help of their mole in the government office and produce it before media the and are in the news for next few days. It’s all free advertising!
Congress has done very little to expose the opposition’s scams though JD(S) has around 25 MLAs they managed a much better opposition role in the state than the Congress.
The recent political developments have brought full points to the JD(S). With the Dharmastala episode gaining national attention, Kumaraswamy has once again emerged as a popular opposition leader in the state. He acted like an innocent and his challenge forced Yeddyurappa eat his words and skip the oath at Dharmastala.
At the same time, in Banglaore, 'father' of JD(S), Deve Gowda succeeded in his ‘dharna' in front of the chief minister’s (CM) residence. On Monday June 27, first the state minister tried to convince Gowda to not stage the Dharna and later state police chief used his influence to convince Gowda. Gowda stayed firm on staging the Dharna for neglect of Hassan district by the ruling BJP.
As planned, Gowda staged the Dharna right in front of the CM’s residence despite resistance from the police. His son, MLA Revanna, and another MLA were detained by police.
It is said that the CM had instructed police to detain Deve Gowda for staging a Dharna in front of his house without permission from the police. But, the police did not dare arrest the former Prime Minister.
Finally, the CM had to bow his head, as he sent his secretaries to Gowda and assured him of fulfilling his demands. That made Gowda withdraw the Dharna, but he warned, “If I don't get my demand fulfilled, I will be back on Dharna within one week!”
That was his success story. In between, the Congress has not been in the news for the past several days.
If this continues, JD(S)will emerge much stronger in the state but at the expense of the Congress!
Kumaraswamy is gaining tremendous popularity among the youth of Karnataka, an agency survey has revealed recently.