Political drama in Karnataka highlights BJP's game plan

Bad times seem to be haunting the Congress. The All India Congress Committee (AICC) continues to be headless even one month after the party president resigned following humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. The party is facing a leadership vacuum. It could not so far find the successor. This has badly affected the morale of the workers.

The CWC is yet to meet and select a new leader. While it is still grappling with this problem, the party, which is more than 100 years old, is now facing a major crisis in Karnataka. The government may fall anytime and if this happens it would deliver a major blow to the already battered Congress party.

Karnataka politics have been witnessing high drama since yesterday morning and no one knows whether the Chief Minister Kumaraswamy would be occupying his chair the next day or not. The fight for survival by the Congress and the JDS on one hand and the attempt to overthrow the government of the day by the BJP is now one year old.

The saffron party had never allowed the present government to settle down and is continuing its struggle to get into the driver's seat in the State. It now appears that the struggle for power between the two has reached a flash point and is turning murkier by the hour.

Speculations were rife that the BJP had even managed to install a secret camera in the Speaker's chambers and that BJP leader Yeddyurappa was tracking the proceedings of the meetings the Speaker was having with MLAs and the phone conversation as well. The Speaker's comments that any kind of spying against him would not help the BJP since whatever he was doing was being done in a transparent manner also added fuel to the fire.

In the latest development, at least eight Congress MLAs in Karnataka, along with three of the JD(S), have resigned. This puts the Congress-JD(S) government in an uncomfortable position as proving majority in the Assembly would be a tall task.

According to Congress MLA Isidore Fernandes, 10 Congress MLAs out of 15 have split from the Congress and are going to merge with the BJP later on Wednesday. The Congress sources said among the 10 MLAs are Leader of the Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, MLAs Isidore Fernandes, Jennifer Monserrate, Atanasio Monserrate, Francis Silveira, among others.

Though the BJP has been denying that it has any role in the crisis and BJP general secretary Muralidhar Rao said, "This is nonsense. It is a baseless allegation. They are not going to gain anything by making allegations against another party which has nothing to do with internal affairs of Congress," it is clear that Operation Kamal is in full swing.

If they did not have any role to play, then the dissident MLAs would not have been transported to Mumbai and kept in a five-star hotel. This clearly indicates that BJP is aiding and abetting the drama.

Operation Kamal is being simultaneously implemented in a systematic manner in many States. In Andhra Pradesh, it has already made four TDP Rajya Sabha MPs to switch loyalties and join the BJP. Another MLC Annam Satish resigned from the Legislative Council and the TDP and is set to join the BJP.

It is being speculated that at least four more MLCs are likely to quit the TDP. Similarly, in Telangana too, former TSRTC Chairman S Satyanarayana has quit the pink party and is likely to join the BJP. The party has already announced that its doors were open for anyone to join them. In the days to come, many more such political dramas would unfold.

In all probability, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh could be the early targets. The most disturbing factor is that the country does not have a strong Opposition to put brakes on the alleged game plan of the BJP. It's time a new genre of politicians emerged and set right the aberrations that have taken place in the body politic during last decade or so.