By IANS
Bangalore : Three major political parties in Karnataka are in turmoil of sorts as their leaders are under pressure to work for the party organisation and leave governance to the next generation.
The Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) have had their chief ministers for 20 months each. Now the Bharatiya Janata Party was to have its chief minister for the remaining 20 months of the assembly’s life but the period has been cut short by a month following the crisis created by the JD-S refusal to transfer power to it in October.
There is doubt though over whether the BJP rule will last all the 19 months, as it is dependent on the JD-S support.
In the 225-member assembly, the BJP has 79 members and it has received support from an independent member and 49 JD-S legislators, giving the combine 16 more supporters than the 113 required for the majority.
The seniors vs. fresh talent tussle is more pronounced in the Congress and the JD-S and muted in the BJP.
Apparently emboldened after their party’s flip-flop on power transfer to the BJP, nearly 30 legislators, several of them first-timers, have come together to ask their leaders, former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and his father and JD-S president H.D. Deve Gowda, to make them ministers in the new BJP-led government.
In the Congress there is a demand to revamp the present set-up led by Mallikharjun Kharge. The young and not-so-young Turks in the state Congress want a new man in Kharge’s place as state unit president. They also want a new leader of the opposition in the assembly in place of former chief minister N. Dharam Singh.
There is a demand in the BJP too to rest many legislators who were ministers till recently and give an opportunity to others to ‘serve’ the people. But the demand is not as loud as in the other two parties.
In JD-S Deve Gowda and his sons, Kumaraswamy and his elder brother H.D. Revenna, rule the roost. Kumaraswamy however has an edge over Revanna in party matters, as he is more popular among the party legislators and workers. Deve Gowda is said to be favouring Revanna.
Deve Gowda is also not known to tolerate anyone trying to question his decision or attempting to bring pressure on him. Hence, it has come as a surprise that a number of legislators have come out in the open holding meetings and press conferences on their demand for ministerial berths.
The group has said in a memorandum to Deve Gowda that Kumaraswamy, Revanna and senior leader M.P. Prakash can be in the BJP-led ministry but none of the other 13 who were in the ministry for the last 20 months and those in the Dharam Singh-led ministry earlier.
These legislators told reporters in Bangalore Tuesday that Kumaraswamy had promised them in January, when he took them to a resort in Pune, that he would give an opportunity to first time legislators and those who had not been ministers at all.
“We are only reminding him and his father of the promise,” the legislators said.
Kumaraswamy told the group that he would consider their request and has left the decision to the party high command.