It has been more than six months since the Congress-JD(S) alliance formed the government in Karnataka but the state has not got stability so far. After bitter relations in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Grand Old Party and JD(S) joined hands in 2004 after a hung Assembly and later in 2018, the age-old rivals came together to form a government.
Recently, Congress’ top brass issued a warning to its four MLAs asking them valid reasons for their absence from the Legislative Party meeting. Lately, according to sources, two MLAs of Congress in abominable hate attacked each other. After this, one of them has been rushed to the hospital for sustaining a severe head injury. Though the Congress is in denial mode it can’t hide the conflict inside the party.
Incidents like these occurring every now and then have created an impasse and certainly, the people of Karnataka are not happy about what are they made to witness.
According to an Indian Express report by Coomi Kapur, the ‘Operation Lotus drama has been engineered by Congress leader and former CM, Siddaramaiah. The report claimed that the tussle occurred, “Due to the infighting between Congress stalwarts, former CM Siddaramaiah and senior minister D K Shivakumar”. On a different note, the report sketched out the plight of the former CM who has been marginalized by H D Kumaraswamy’s government. Siddaramaiah, who was once in the JD(S) being very influential, is now struggling to recapture his lost bastion. He has been overshadowed by the current chief minister of the state. His insecurity is making him try all the possible measures to keep up with the growing craze of Kumaraswami in the state. The recent dispute between DK Shivkumar, another Congress stalwart, and Siddaramaiah substantiated the case further. “At one point, Siddaramaiah reportedly suggested to Rahul Gandhi that it made better sense to pull out from the government since the non-performing JD(S) will handicap the Congress in the parliamentary polls. Because of Siddaramaiah’s maneuvers, some seven Congress MLAs went missing” writes Coomi Kapur to substantiate the case.
Earlier, Shivakumar claimed that the BJP had launched “Operation Lotus” in the state. Operation Lotus is saffron party’s statewide movement aimed at strengthening the party in Karnataka, Shivakumar claimed. He also added, “We have all the information on which Congress MLAs BJP has approached and how much money they have offered. We will expose them.”
The report by Indian Express gives a clean-chit to the BJP by highlighting the feud in the Grand Old Party itself i.e. between Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah. Hence the Congress’ propaganda of ‘Operation Lotus’ has fallen flat.
This ugly spat in the Grand Old Party and its dependence on fictional stories have further weakened the government in Karnataka. The hope to deliver effective governance in the state seems to have long gone. No wonders if the government collapses to pressure in the state of Karnataka.