By IANS
Bangalore : Caste-dominated Karnataka politics is set to hit its nadir as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) severed its ties with the ruling coalition partner Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) Saturday, leading to charges and counter-charges.
Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of JD-S, who refused to honour his word to vacate his seat for BJP on Oct 3 as agreed 20 months back, Saturday launched a campaign to discredit Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa of BJP.
“Yediyurappa wanted to join JD-S and he was satisfied with a ministership,” he told Kannada TV channels.
The claim came after Yediyurappa, hoping to be BJP’s first chief minister in south India, accused Kumaraswamy of betrayal.
More such charges are likely to be traded daily till assembly polls are held.
In the run-up to their break-up, two BJP leaders had levelled grave charges against Kumaraswamy including that of attempt to murder.
B. Sriramulu of BJP, who was tourism minister in Kumaraswamy’s cabinet, claimed that shots were fired at him on Sep 24 when he was campaigning in Bellary district for the civic body polls of Sep 28.
He went to the Bellary police with a complaint that Kumaraswamy was behind the attempt to murder him. Police did not register the complaint, saying it was not in the proper format.
BJP asked Sriramulu to resign in order to pacify Kumaraswamy who is still furious that no serious action was taken against him for levelling such charges.
Sriramulu’s accusation is among the many reasons that Kumaraswamy and his father, JD-S president H.D. Deve Gowda, cited for refusing to hand over chief ministership to BJP, leading to the fall of the coalition.
Early this year another BJP leader from Bellary, M. Janarahana Reddy, who is a legislator, claimed that Kumaraswamy had taken a bribe of Rs.15 billion to allow illegal mining in the iron-rich Bellary district.
Janardhana Reddy also approached the high court seeking a probe into his charges.
BJP acted fast and suspended Janardhana Reddy from the party but he continues to repeat the charges.
Reacting to Kumaraswamy’s complaints against BJP, Yediyurappa has said his party too has a long list and will make it public soon.
The BJP will virtually kick off its election campaign Sunday as it plans to mobilise more than 10,000 workers and supporters for a rally in Bangalore before marching to Raj Bhavan to submit the support withdrawal letter to the governor.
The personalised charges and attacks will be coupled with caste calculations that have played a major role in elections in Karnataka for several years now.
Some religious heads of Lingayat groups had threatened protests if Kumaraswamy went back on his word and denied chief ministership to Yediyurappa who belongs to the Lingayat community.
It is not immediately clear if the religious leaders will indeed launch or support such a caste-based agitation as none of them has reacted to Saturday’s developments yet.
Apart from caste, there will be the “communal” versus “secular” politics, as the JD-S questioned BJP’s ability to maintain communal harmony in the state while justifying its refusal to hand over power to it.