Karnataka Governor gets cornered
The Karnataka Governor Mr. Hans Raj Bharadwaj finds himself hoisted by his own petard of sorts over the issue of ordinances for the reservation of seats for the impending elections to the taluk and zilla panchayats the two vital grass root level democratic institutions in Karnataka. Keeping him company in the predicament has been the Congress, which has preferred to fight proxy war against the BJP government.
It is the direction of the Supreme Court received sometime in May, requiring the state governments including Karnataka to cap the total reservations at 50%, which set the ball rolling. The State Government proposed and the Governor agreed for amending the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act through ordinance to give effect to the same in the first week of November.
More than a month later, when the details of the matrix of reservations worked out by the State Election Commission became known, all hell broke loose in Karnataka, with the opposition including the Congress crying foul. For, the seats axed in the process had exclusively come from the OBCs, since the quota for the SCs and STs could not be tinkered with because of the constitutional safeguards. The OBC quota had been reduced by 109 seats from the 334 reserved in thirty zilla panchayats and by 482 among 1232 seats reserved 174 taluk panchayats.
The move set off furore of sorts, with everybody including the opposition Congress braying at the government with a fervent plea to restore statusquo ante in the interest of social justice. The BJP government did not want to take the odium of being anti OBC on the eve of crucial panchayat elections, which provided another opportunity for its growing clout in the rural areas.
Hence it lost no time in attempting to retrace its steps. It was quick in forwarding another ordinance to the Governor for approval with a view to restoring the status quo ante as had been desired by the opposition. But the Governor did not oblige, he returned the proposal and another subsequently modified one too, on the ground interalia that it was violative of the Supreme Courts directions.
The developments had all the trappings of the one more flip-flop action, for which the BJP government has become famous, And that the Governor, as has been his wont, had delivered one more public snub to the Yeddyurappa government, with whom he has been having continued battle of nerves, and has made no secret of his annoyance over the functioning and performanance of the government.
.But a careful reading of the situation reveals that the boot is another leg. It is not the BJP government, which has been put on the mat. But the Governor and the Congress which have found themselves cornered, unable to prevent whatever the BJP politically wanted to do.
It has been a known fact that the BJP has not been that comfortable with the OBCs. The Supreme Courts directive on limiting the reservations to the 50% came as manna from heaven, and it could legally reduce the OBC quota and swell the general quota commensurately. If the government was really worried over the reduction in the OBC quota, it had many avenues open to defer decision under one or the other pretext. But it chose act swiftly and quietly to get an ordinance issued.
Its subsequent attempts to retrace the step as had been demanded by the opposition, was more a show for public consumption than indicative of any change in heart. The insiders in the BJP maintain that the BJP was sure that t the Governor could not oblige, for the government was on strong legal ground, and a seasoned lawyer and former Union Law Minister, Mr. Bharadwaj could not act otherwise. Their hunch ultimately proved to be correct.
The BJP government, has been able achieve politically whatever wanted to do and has got away with it. The Governor has not been able to prevent it, even if he were to be aware of its real political intentions government, because of the legal frame work surrounding the government’s action.
The Congress which was very vocal in crying foul in the first instance, has been made to eat its own words, when the Governor turned down the second proposal for restoring quota.. It is not known whether it tried in vain to prevail upon the friendly Governor to do so? If it did try, the efforts apparently did not succeed. They lost a political weapon too. The party cans no longer make a political capital of the developments in the forthcoming elations to deride the BJP. For, who stood in the way of the restoration of quota was not the State Government but the Governor. And criticizing the Governor does not benefit them in any way..
Politically also, the BJP is one step ahead of its political rivals. BJP finds that the time is ripe for holding the elections to the grass root level democratic institutions. It has fully prepared itself for the hustings. It has virtually launched the election campaign too and the Chief Minister Mr. Yeddyurappa is touring the districts implementing the specially designed government programme of Bhagyashri for the distribution of sarees to rural women, with a view to wooing them. With a tongue in the cheek statement, the state BJP President, Mr. Eshwarappa has said that the party would make up whatever the quota the OBCs lost by providing the increased representation to this section in the allotment party tickets. He has through this statement thrown a gauntlet at the opposition.
On the other hand, the opposition parties, both the Congress and the JDS are in total disarray. They are yet to come out of their fixation of berating the government for the plethora of scams including the land grabbing by the Minister, to come to terms with the political realities facing them.
The moot question is whether the BJP had planned its strategy? Going by the track record, it is unlikely. For, since beginning, Yeddyurappa has been more relying on is impulses than a carefully worked out political strategy. The knee jerk reaction, for which he is known, has conspired somehow to place him in a politically advantageous position.
