Carnatic Congress

Although it is only three weeks since the new year began, the season of politics is in full swing, writes Pankaj Vohra.

Even though it is only three weeks since the new year began, the season of politics is in full swing. The Congress is meeting in Hyderabad to figure out what went wrong in Karnataka and devise a strategy to consolidate its coalition at the Centre. At the same time, it wants to find ways to strengthen the organisation elsewhere. The BJP is gloating over its apparent success in Karnataka and has found an issue in the Quattrocchi affair, thanks to some inept handling by the UPA.

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The Samajwadi Party wants to capitalise on the Amar Singh phone-tapping controversy and H.D. Deve Gowda is trying to convince allies that he had nothing to do with his son’s flirtations with the BJP. Mayawati hopes to woo the Brahmins and banias, after the appointment of Rajnath Singh as the BJP chief. Uma Bharati is trying to establish that she is the real party. The Shiv Sena is fighting for survival. The Left is gearing up for the assembly polls in Bengal and Kerala. Last but not least, the impending reshuffle of the Union cabinet may put an end to many political ambitions while propping up some others.

But it is Karnataka which is worrying everybody the most. Deve Gowda’s son, H.D. Kumaraswamy has demonstrated already that he is not likely to miss an opportunity to head the state government, despite being a first-time legislator. It matters little to him that in the process of doing so, he may harm whatever is left of his father’s ambitions of returning to the Centre under the secular umbrella. He hopes to lead an alliance of not only his party and BJP MLAs, but also a social tie-up of the two most powerful communities — the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats.

The BJP is hoping that Kumaraswamy does not let them down. If that happens, the saffron party may have egg on its face in addition to being seen as a party dying to be in power. But so far the game plan of Ananth Kumar, who led his party to an impressive show in the assembly polls, seems to be working. It is also the BJP’s way of telling everybody that no government can be stable in the state, without the support of the largest party (BJP).

For Deve Gowda, it seems to be the end of his political stint. He has been trying to live down the allegations of his past association with the RSS by wearing secularism on his sleeve. He had even named his party Janata Dal (Secular) but as things are turning out, the party may get a new name — Janata Dal (pseudo-secular) given its new love for the BJP. The former prime minister has demonstrated that either he is a very good actor or somebody who has been led up the garden path by his own son. Whatever the case, he may end up spending the rest of his political life in oblivion.

The Congress position is virtually indefensible. It not only failed to anticipate the challenge from within despite a meeting of Deve Gowda with Atal Bihari Vajpayee but has shown that in Karnataka it has simply bungled. The party which has six working committee members from the state and as many as four acting in the capacity of general secretaries, it is really a poor show.

Many may argue that the mandate last time was against the S.M. Krishna government. That the Congress should have, in the first place, not formed the government but sat in the opposition. Since that did not happen, it should have been more serious while running the coalition and not gone by Dharam Singh’s assertions that his government was stable. It should have put somebody other than A.K. Antony as incharge of the state, especially since the former Kerala chief minister has an upcoming state election and his focus is bound to be on that rather than on Karnataka. He is the one person who cannot be blamed for this at all.

And if the BJP engineered the coup in Karnataka, the Congress should have bounced back by doing something similar in Jharkhand where the BJP-led government is experiencing some anxious moments. The party would have proved that it could politically retaliate with equal ferociousness if its governments were toppled.

But the events as they unfolded showed that it was Karnataka’s local leadership, and not so much BJP’s central leadership, which has succeeded. In his address in Mumbai, Advani talked at length about IQ, EQ, SQ and the latest MQ (moral quotient). It seems his advice has gone unheeded and the party which talked about its high moral ground must be now aware that Advani’s remarks have no meaning in the world of realpolitik.

At Hyderabad, Congress leaders have been trying to play down the Karnataka issue and keep the focus on the deliberations of the AICC session, where Rahul Gandhi may be finally inducted into the party. A section of the media is focusing on the absence of Priyanka Gandhi but whoever follows Congress politics knows that as of now, it is going to be Rahul who is going to be in a pivotal position.

There has also been media speculation that after Rahul’s induction, other youngsters who mostly belong to influential political families may find placements in either the party or the organisation. But it appears that the party will lay more emphasis on younger leaders who also have been around for some time. The appointment of Bharat Solanki as Gujarat PCC president is an indication. But one thing is certain. That at Hyderabad, the Congress will give topmost priority to women and youth. Between us.