Topping games soon? Shinde sounds ‘alert’

Karnataka voted overwhelmingly for a Congress-run government in May last year with the party winning a full 135 seats in the Assembly reducing the then ruling BJP to a pitiful 66.

What seemed to have worked for the Congress were a series of poll guarantees including free grains and free bus travel, dole outs for unemployed youth and women heads of households.

In the space of a year, the Siddaramaiah government has earned rich accolades for walking the talk and implementing the poll promises as best as possible.

The Grand Old Party also hopes to make the best of the goodwill it has earned and reap the benefits in the Lok Sabha polls which have just concluded in the state. Most poll analysts expect the party to gain a majority of the Lok Sabha seats compared to the mere one it won in 2019.

With the ‘double-engine’ Siddaramaiah-Shivakumar combine doing pretty well despite being denied funds by the Centre for much-needed drought relief work, the state is also looking forward to becoming a favourite destination for investments - a privilege it lost to others during the tenure of previous governments.

So the statement by Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde a couple of days ago on toppling the Karnataka government by resorting to the ‘Maharashtra model’ came as a bolt from the blue for those looking forward to a period of political stability.

Shinde no doubt is adept at toppling games considering that he managed to split the Shiv Sena and bring down a popular CM - Uddhav Thackeray installing himself in the top post about two years ago. He also managed to ensure a split in the NCP by getting a chunk of MLAs led by Ajit Pawar to back his government.

So what are the BJP and its new-found ally, the Shinde Sena, planning in Karnataka? Are they looking to exploit what now seems to be a ‘forgotten feud’ between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for the CM chair?

Is a plan brewing to make the best of the apparent discontent among some ruling party MLAs over denial of funds for their constituencies with the implementation of the guarantees demanding a huge chunk of state resources?

Karnataka, one of the few Congress-ruled states in the country, has become a shining model of good governance with citizens now able to set aside a larger salary component for savings after the guarantees reduced their travel, household and power costs.

The saffronists have been trying hard to spot a chink in the Congress armour but to no avail. Attempts to give law and order incidents a communal twist have also failed to evoke any substantial emotions among the general populace.

After removing Uddhav from the CM’s chair, the BJP had tried the same tactic in another Congress-ruled state, Himachal Pradesh which however did not succeed.

And so it will not be surprising if the BJP-led NDA doubles its efforts to bring down the Karnataka government once the Lok Sabha polls process is over - and if it secures a comfortable majority in parliament.

This is no doubt the time for leaders of the Congress and opposition parties to gird up for the bigger battle looming ahead with Eknath Shinde merely giving a hint of what’s in store for Opposition ruled states and those which refuse to toe the Centre’s line.

Such ousters of opposition governments have happened in the past too with the methods and mechanism adopted by those in power in Delhi to achieve their aim often coming under critical scrutiny.

It is therefore the time for all democratic and secular minded parties to augment their unity forgetting trivial differences and leadership disputes for the bigger question looms; that of safeguarding democracy and ensuring the survival of the few state governments which have proved to be a thorn in the flesh of the ruling dispensation at the Centre.