The wait for the BJP in Karnataka becomes more tense – the Governor steps in
The situation for the BJP in Karnataka has suddenly become more tense. One day before the trial of strength in the assembly, the BJP is not really sure whether they will make it. A small section of the dissidents (including the ring-leader) have been persuaded to back the Government, but a number of dissident MLA’s are running away from the BJP (and in a comical touch, are being safe-guarded by the neighbouring Congress Governments of Maharashtra and Goa and hacked by BJP workers in these states). The previous JDS Chief Minister, Kumaraswamy, sees a way to get the BJP Government out and is giving his whole hearted support to these dissidents. The BJP high command in turn had sent in a number of negotiators to get the dissidents back to the BJP, given that the state is the only state in the south that is ruled by the BJP (in fact the only state that has a sizable BJP political influence).
The BJP Government has been having an ongoing tussle with the Governor, who is really becoming more active that most Governors. Most states have issues with Governors where the Chief Minister is from a different party, and in Karnataka, the conflict is even stronger, with the Governor having issues several advices earlier to the Chief Minister, none of which was appreciated. And now, in the midst of the current controversy where the BJP was considering getting some of the MLA’s disqualified due to anti-party activity, the Governor has stepped in and planted himself firmly in the middle. He sent off a letter to the BJP origin speaker that there cannot be any attempt to disqualify any MLA, and that all members have a right to vote in the assembly. This is when the BJP was counting on the threat of disqualification to turn the MLA’s back to the BJP fold, and was also getting BJP workers in the assembly constituencies of the rebels to get them to return to the party fold.
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Categories: Allies, BJP, Congress, Deal, Karnataka, Minority, Politics, Support Tags: Allies, BJP, Congress, Dissidence, Government, Governor, Karnataka, Speaker, Support, Vote of confidence
The sudden crisis in the Karnataka BJP, with needing to seek a vote of confidence
The BJP Government in Karnataka is one of their most prized governments, since this is a southern state and the BJP was for a long time frozen our of the southern states. Even now, the BJP is really not a force to reckon with in the state in the southern part of India, given that it was kicked out of the alliance with the BJD in Orissa, does not find any mention in Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu, and has very limited influence in Kerala (that too mostly due to the activities of the RSS over there). It is only in Maharashtra that the BJP starts becoming strong. So it was a major event for the BJP when it started increasing its vote share in the state of Karnataka, and even there, the amount of dissidence remains high. The Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa remains powerful, but has to face the constant pressure of the former central minister Ananth Kumar; but the biggest problem that the Chief Minister faces is from the Reddy brothers who are from the region near Bellary and are all powerful. With their control of mines, they have a huge amount of wealth and money power, and have constantly been applying pressure on the Chief Minister, and also have the support of Sushma Swaraj at the center.
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Categories: Alliance, Allies, BJP, Deal, Karnataka, Politics, Support Tags: BJP, Dissidence, Government, Karnataka, Mining, MLA, Politics, Reddy Brothers, State Assembly, Support, Yeddyurappa
Government support to cricket vs other sports
We have an obsession with cricket in this country. It is the most popular game, and maybe there are valid reasons for that. It has been marketed wonderfully, and people’s involvement in the game has been raised to such a high degree that when the finals of the Twenty-Twenty were taking place in South Africa, the roads in Delhi were deserted, and for the next 2-3 days, the newspapers had major sections covering the event. The players were heroes, welcomed by the state government on arrival in Mumbai, with the BCCI doling out large sums of money to the players. Now, so far, the BCCI is a body for cricket, and it can give awards. But the Government has to appear broad-based and fair to all sports, and yet we know that is such a fiction. So, we have the hockey players, who won the Asia Cup when no one expected, protesting against the doling out of money to the players by State Governments.
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