The MUDA Issue And The Political Situation in Karnataka | P. S. Jayaramu

October 5, 2024

I wrote last week in these columns( 28th September) that the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife Ms. Parvathi should have returned the sites to the Mysore Urban Development Authority ( MUDA) when the CM appointed the Justice Desai Commission to investigate the entire issue. If she had done so, she could have reduced, if not saved, Siddaramaiah from all the embarrassment he suffered and is suffering at present too. Not only it was not done, Siddaramaiah claimed compensation of ?52 crores if they were to surrender the sites, lending credence to the Opposition’s criticisms of financial considerations being behind the issue. Following the High Court order upholding the power of the Governor to sanction investigation of the issue and the Special Court’s directive to the Mysuru branch of the Lok Ayukta to investigate the matter and submit a report within three months, the investigation process is now under way. Additionally, the Enforcement Directorate ( ED) too has entered the scene. Thus, when things began hotting up, Siddaramaiah’s wife surrendered the sites to the MUDA, which were accepted by the MUDA Commissioner the same day along with an official notification to that effect.

With the above factual details, let me turn to the Political developments since then. The stand of the Congress Party and that of Siddaramaiah himself is that he need not resign as Chief Minister as the Government has welcomed the investigation of the issue in its entirety. Senior party leaders, including a former CM and Union Minister, have observed that Siddaramaiah need not resign as CM. His loyalists have gone a step further and said that Siddaramaiah will compete his five-year term, even if an FIR is filed against him.

Public postures and declaratory statements apart, it is as clear as daylight that a few senior members of the cabinet, who are aspirants for the CM’s chair, are holding meetings amongst themselves and with their supporters and are even lobbying with the Congress High Command for its blessings in the event of a change of leadership. Foremost among the contenders for the CM’s ‘gaddi’ is the deputy chief minister and State Party President D. K. Shiva Kumar. His being a powerful leader of the strong vokkaliga community, which has been playing a significant role in State Politics, adds weight to his claim for thebposition. The fact that no other vokkaliga Congress leader is a claimant to the post is a plus point in favour of Shiva Kumar.

Senior leader and Home Minister Dr. G. Parameswara has for long been nursing ambition of becoming the Chief Minister. Parameswara being an SC, his claims cannot be brushed aside if the change of guard becomes necessary. Additionally, Parameswara is said to be enjoying the support of the AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge. At the same time, it is also being talked about that Siddaramaiah may favour another senior minister Satish Jarkiholi belonging to the same social category as his replacement if the need arises.

It should also be borne in mind that the Lingayat lobby within the Siddaramaiah ministry too is quietly staking its claim for the CM’s chair if the need arises. There are reports that the Large and Medium Industries Minister M. B. Patil is a front-runner for the chair as he is also a Siddaramaiah loyalist. He is likely to be backed by the Party senior Shamanur Shivshankarappa if it comes to that. The Lingayat lobby in the Party would strongly press its claim by saying that that with a Lingayat as Chief Minister, the Congress Party would be able to neutralise the community’s support base of the BJP, an argument hard to counter!

The BJP-JD (S) combined Opposition have upped the ante for Siddaramaiah’s resignation ever since the Mysuru branch of the Lok Ayukta began its investigation.Their demand has been continuing ever since they carried out a joint ‘padayatra’ from Bengaluru to Mysuru before the legal proceedings on the MUDA isuue began. It looks like a ‘do or die’ battle for them to bring themselves into the centre stage of State Politics, though internal bickering between the BJP and the JD(S) are well known. Though the combined Opposition is aware that it can not unseat the Congress Party from power in view of the latter’s strong majority(136 seats in an assembly out of 224), their objective is to unseat Siddaramaiah first and eventually force mid-term polls to the Assembly by projecting corruption, the poor financial position of the state in view of huge budget outlays for the implementation of the five guarantees and lack of governance as major issues to seek popular mandate.

The inability of the Siddaramaiah Government to implement the caste census report which has been lying with it for quite some time in view of the opposition from the Lingagat and Vokkaliga communities, despite the position taken by the Congress Party and Rahul Gandhi at the national level in favour of caste census has given a handle to the opposition to expose the lack of seriousness within the Party on the issue of caste census.

In conclusion, paradoxical as it may seem to be, the numerically strong Congress Government has, within one and a half years, reached a stage where its stability itself has come to face a question mark.

(Author Dr. P. S. Jayaramu is former Dean, Facultynof Arts, Bangalore University and former Senior Fellow, ICSSR, New Delhi)