Amit Shah’s pan-India power game may prove self-destructive for party
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa expanded his cabinet on Wednesday by inducting seven ministers to quell dissent against his leadership. Three of the seven ministers sworn in by Governor Vajubhai Vala are known supporters of Yediyurappa. The fourth, Yogeshwar, a member of legislative council, has cases of blackmail and cheating against him. Though the expansion was supposed to end disquiet among BJP legislators, the fact that many of them have raised objections to their being sidelined and pointing out that Yediyurappa has succumbed to blackmail and pressure shows all is not well in the Karnataka BJP. Over a dozen BJP MLAs have expressed disappointment over the induction of ministers on Wednesday. Yediyurappa had snubbed his detractors by saying that they could go to the party top brass if they wanted. His critics are planning to bring their disappointment to the notice of the party president J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
At the core of the problem is the large number of Congress MLAs the BJP poached for bringing down the Congress-JD(S) government and forming a government of its own. The BJP had won the largest number of seats in the last Assembly elections in 2018 but was short of half way mark. Though Yediyurappa was sworn in as Chief Minister he could not prove his majority and had to step down. The Janata Dal (Secular) and Congress then joined hands to form a government, which lasted 14 months until defections brought it down. Yediyurappa, who had engineered the defections, was once again elected Chief Minister 17 months ago. He rewarded all those who helped him become the Chief Minister with ministerial berths but at the cost of hardcore party legislators, which has caused heartburns among many of them. While some have come out in the open, others are weighing in options. The BJP would have to work overtime to keep them under control. Dissent against his leadership apart, Yediyurappa’s problems have been compounded following Karnataka High Court dismissing his petition seeking quashing of FIRs against him in an illegal land denotification case with his own party men seeking his resignation.
The rift within the BJP Karnataka camp shows that Amit Shah’s strategy of expanding party rule pan-India by hook or crook is proving self-destructive. Over the last few years, the BJP has imported legislators from other parties, especially its arch enemy the Congress to grab power in Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Northeastern states. The party had to reward the turncoats with ministerial berths, as a result of which those who have worked for the party for decades were sidelined. The BJP had to condone the sins of corruption that several of the poached MLAs were accused of by the party. In Goa former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar and former Assembly speaker Rajendra Arlekar, who laid the foundations for the BJP, have been sidelined.
The simmering internal discontent in Karnataka could have repercussions on the BJP elsewhere in the country. The old and loyal members and workers of the party are raising a big question: will the BJP expand with the defectors, by marginalizing and neglecting them? The BJP faces a dilemma. If it tries to keep the loyal party men happy, those who crossed over from other parties would leave the party and look for a greener pasture. On the other hand, the hardcore and loyal workers cannot go on sacrificing their ambitions indefinitely and allow the turncoats to reap the benefits of power. The people have not failed to note that the BJP has shamelessly embraced those whom it had dubbed corrupt and rewarded them with plum posts in Karnataka, Goa and other states. The BJP’s image as a party with a difference, as a party built by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) whose core emphasis is on character building and moral uprightness, has taken a severe hit. By grabbing power by hook or crook the BJP has damaged itself. The expansion has been at the cost of the ideals of the founders of the RSS and the BJP. Karnataka has come as a warning to the party that it should desist from growth without ethics.