It was an evidently disconsolate and miffed Jagadish Shettar, the present Chief Minister of Karnataka from Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) post poll results who with a profound heart had to acknowledge what voters had in offer for him. Congress is all set to form the government bagging 121 out of 223 seats while BJP has to be content with a lowly and too discomforting number of 40.
The present figures are nothing but understandable forewarning to BJP that it should get its act together soon enough and merely earning mileage from various scams in UPA II government won’t work wonders for them.
Nevertheless, the landslide victory is not a winning ticket for the Congress in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls too and results could only be interpreted as loss of BJP than a win for Congress in realism.
The saffron party had come to power for the first time in any of the states in Southern India way back in 2008 under the leadership of B.S Yeddyurappa..The results were too astounding for the foremost political force (Congress) in Karnataka as BJP didn’t enjoy any significant base there till that particular time.
Therefore, David’s win against the Goliath marked new innings in the political scenario of Karnataka.
The people in the state were contented to vote for the change and anticipated positive developments over the span of next five years.Though, developments were surely witnessed but in the form of mining scams and exceedingly corrupt government that was as unstable as a rickety house facing an earthquake.
Yedurappa who was considered to be an enigmatic leader himself passed more “crocodile tears” (literally) himself on several occasions than he wiped out from the faces of poor citizens of the state.
The commanding Reddy brothers held the government to ransom for most part of the rule. The internal strife and factionalism was clearly visible throughout that ended with the removal of senior leader like Yedurappa by the BJP’s central leadership and he eventually formed his own party that further added to the woes of BJP this time.
Therefore, the script was written down way back while the BJP government was conscientiously busy in ruling Karnataka with a crooked hand. Terming it as a signal for the subsequent Parliamentary elections (as majority of the Congressmen are busy proposing) would be clear allegory as state politics always run on local issues, entirely isolated from the national scenario.
The other rationale behind the thrashing of BJP is that the youth including 3.5 million first –timers were desperate enough to vote for a steady government this time.
Therefore, if UPA II is corrupt and one of the worst governments in the Indian history BJP in Karnataka matched it from head to toe with utmost assurance.
However, the road ahead for Congress wouldn’t be roller coaster as anticipated. It is noticeably possible that the party would soon fall on the same path that led to the ouster of BJP. Congress too is infested with internal discord as visible in the race for the Chief Ministerial post and other lucrative cabinet berths. It must be the first time ever in Congress’ history in Karnataka that at least three prominent leaders are openly declaring their intentions for the top post.
Therefore, Congress should learn from the follies of the precursor and restore its way at the earliest if it desires to reiterate the momentum in the impending Parliamentary polls in the state too.
A mechanical engineering graduate with a post graduation in marketing and sales, Ashish has combined professional experience of more than 4 years.
Ashish is a great fan of Martin Scorsese. He loves to write poetry in his spare time.
He lives in Shimla.
