Even more of the same
Karnataka Excise Minister Renukacharya – who till Saturday portrayed himself as a rebel leader and the chief architect of the ongoing conspiracy against the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, but has since returned to his party like a prodigal son – probably thinks he has done a great thing. But the truth is that he has not only revealed his own weaknesses, but has shown the entire world that the BJP is anything but a ‘party with a difference’. Falling prey to his own machinations, he has betrayed himself to be a very bad leader; one who could not maintain control over his bunch of scoundrels.
It was Renukacharya who, backed by Janata Dal (S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s money, had taken the rebel MLAs to Chennai, from where they wrote letters to Governor H R Bharadwaj withdrawing support to B S Yedyurappa’s Karnataka government. They were then flown to Mumbai where, being gheraoed by BJP activists, they were unable to leave the airport. They flew instead to Goa, resulting in high drama over the next few days at the Taj Exotica in Benaulim.
During the days they were at this super-luxury resort, the rebels held a virtual auction, with ever-increasing bids from both the BJP and from the JD(S) for their precious votes in the confidence poll that is to take place in the assembly today. We were not privy to the large-scale horsetrading that went on behind the closed doors of the exorbitant villas in the resort, but in the end the 13 rebels (including eight BJP MLAs) who were supposed to be his followers unceremoniously dumped Renukacharya and flew to Chennai. He found himself alone.
Leader of the Opposition Manohar Parrikar, who was actively involved in the negotiations with the MLAs, as well as Renukacharya himself, have both alleged that the rebel MLAs were forcibly taken away against their will by ‘over 100 goons’, at the behest of Congress and JD(S) leaders, minutes after they had agreed to return to the party fold. But such allegations flying back and forth are nothing new in power struggles of this kind.
Renukacharya has also alleged that the 13 rebels received crores of rupees from Mr Kumaraswamy. “I have been isolated because unlike the other MLAs who made deals involving bribes of around Rs20 to Rs25 crore each, I refused to accept this,” he said. Mr Renukacharya protests too much. The amounts he quotes are astonishingly high, but it hardly casts either the BJP or Renukacharya himself in a good light. For, it indicates that during the ongoing negotiations in Goa, the BJP too was offering enormous largesse – either in cash, or in kind, or both – and was simply outbid by Mr Kumaraswamy. Both Mr Parrikar and Mr Reunkacharya say that the BJP high command and Mr Yeddyurappa agreed to meet “all the demands” of the rebels…
Mr Renukacharya’s confident assertion that “nobody can topple the BJP government” is about as reliable as his so-called leadership abilities. Unfortunately, there are now new complications. In what seems to be a blatantly partisan move, Governor H R Bharadwaj has ‘directed’ Karnataka Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah not to disqualify the rebel BJP MLAs who have been served show cause notices, and to maintain status quo as on 6 October. He has no authority as the head of the Executive to give any directions to the Speaker, who is the head of the Legislature. However, being Governor, he certainly does have the authority to dismiss the government and recommend imposition of President’s Rule. And, unless the BJP in the state is willing to face that eventuality, it cannot completely disregard his wishes. Let us see what happens today.