By IANS
Bangalore : The Janata Dal, launched in 1988 with much fanfare in Bangalore as a left-of-the-centre alternative to the Congress party, has split 13 times and faces one more break-up in Karnataka.
The Janata Parivar, which had its roots in the Janata Party that was launched in the 1970s, reached its peak in 1989 when V.P. Singh became prime minister after falling out with former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi of the Congress over the Bofors gun purchase scandal.
However, the ‘family’ started disintegrating soon after and by the last count had split 13 times.
“No one need be surprised if the Parivar splits for the 14th, 15h or 16h time,” M.P. Prakash, senior Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader in Karnataka, said recently.
He is widely expected to walk out of the JD-S along with supporters fed up with the way the party was being run in the state by its president H.D. Deve Gowda, a former prime minister, and his sons, former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and H.D. Revanna.
The JD-S has become a “father and sons” party and “I will not be in a party where there is no internal democracy,” Prakash told reporters in Hubli, in north Karnataka, Monday.
Prakash and his supporters have decided to stay away from the JD-S executive committee meeting here Nov 29 to chalk out the party’s plans for the assembly polls, expected in April/May next year.
He has instead convened a meeting of “like-minded JD-S workers and supporters” on Nov 28 to decide whether to form a new party or try to bring all the Janata Parivar leaders under one banner or join any other party.
The Janata Parivar has three factions in Karnataka, the dominant being JD-S.
There is a Janata Dal-United, Janata Dal (Surendra Mohan faction) and now almost defunct Lok Shakti Party floated by late Ramakrishna Hegde after he was expelled from Janata Dal in 1996 soon after Deve Gowda became prime minister.
JD (Surendra Mohan faction) came into being early last year as JD-S aligned with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form a coalition government in Karnataka.
Prakash, though a respected leader, is unlikely to take away majority of JD-S leaders with him. Around 10 out of the 51 legislators in the outgoing assembly are likely to attend Wednesday’s meeting called by him.
Kumaraswamy has been on an overdrive in the last few days to stem the growing dissidence in the party over its ‘betrayal’ of BJP twice in a span of 45 days since early October.
He first refused to give up the post of chief minister in favour of BJP’s B.S. Yeddyurappa on Oct 3 as agreed by him in February 2006. This led to fall of his government on Oct 8 and BJP launched a massive campaign across the state against the “betrayal”.
After three weeks of bitter accusations and counter-charges, he and his father somersaulted and went back to BJP on Oct 27 offering unconditional support to a Yeddyurappa-led ministry only to decide to ditch him ahead of a trust vote on Nov 19.
Yeddyurappa resigned and the state was brought under the president’s rule for the second time in two months on Nov 20. On Monday parliament approved the imposition of the president’s rule and paved the way for dissolving the 225-member assembly, 19 months of ahead of schedule.
The Nov 29 meeting called by Kumaraswamy will be a sort of jamboree and not a small executive committee meet as state unit chief Merajuddin Patel expects nearly 7,000 people to attend it.
“Depending on the decision Prakash takes on Nov 28, the party will decide what action to take against him,” Patel told reporters Tuesday.
The notable offshoots of the Janata Parivar are the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, the Samajwadi Party led by Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Biju Janata Dal of Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Lok Janashakti Party of Chemicals and Fertilisers minister Ram Vilas Paswan.
Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy are confident a majority of party office-bearers and workers will stay with them, as state elections will be held within six months.
“Those who want to go can go and those who want to stay or come, can stay and come,” Deve Gowda told reporters Sunday reacting to Prakash’s move.
Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy confidence stems from the fact that Prakash is no match to them in raising resources and organising people to fight the polls.