Rahul must now step in to avert a crisis in Karnataka
The CongressJanata Dal (Secular) coalition in the state is yet to get going in terms of proper governance
Running a coalition government where the tail wags the dog was never going to be easy. The Congress, owing to its national compulsions, agreed to a coalition government with the Janata Dal (Secular) to keep the BJP out of power in Karnataka. It handed over the chief ministership and a clutch of key portfolios to a partner who had less than half the number of seats it had, generating huge disaffection within the party. The results are there for everyone to see.
Nearly four months after coming to power, the coalition government is yet to get going in terms of proper governance. The bulk of the government’s energy and time seems to be spent just on retaining power. Chief minister, HD Kumaraswamy, seems to be hopping from one temple to another, praying for the continuation of the government. Surprisingly, it has been the Congress which has till now proved to be the government’s Achilles’ heel. Rampant internecine feuds within the party for ministerial berths and district-level satraps with putative ambitions for the top post are hindering the functioning of the government.
The latest set of challenges for the coalition emerges from the politics of Belagavi district. Belagavi is important because after Bengaluru, it has the maximum number of legislative seats in the state. The Jarkiholi brothers, who are sugar and education barons, have long played a key role in deciding who controls the district. Of the five Jarkiholi brothers, three are MLAs. Two of them are in the Congress; the other one is in the BJP. For the first time, their hold on the district is being challenged by Lakshmi Hebbalkar, a one-time protégé of the Jarkiholi brothers and presentday chief of the Karnataka women’s wing of Congress as well as a first-time MLA.
To add further spice to the mix, there is a caste angle involved. The Jarkiholis are Nayakas classified as Scheduled Tribe (ST) in Kar- nataka. Hebbalkar is a Lingayat, the most numerically dominant caste in the state. Even as shadow boxing between the brothers and the new power centre in the district was on for some time, the latest round of trouble started for the control of a district cooperative bank. Local district banks are powerful instruments for extending patronage, especially in a place where wealth revolves around growing and processing of sugarcane. The Jarkiholis have usually had their way in selecting the chairman and other senior positions in the bank. But this time, to counter the influential brothers, Hebbalkar has put up her own roster of candidates.
It became clear to the Jarkiholis that Hebbalkar displayed the courage to put up candidates against their choice because of powerful backers within the party. It wasn’t hard to discover that this was none other than DK Shivakumar, the strongman of the Karnataka Congress, who had helped the party by hosting MLAs from Gujarat during a contentious Rajya Sabha election, and the man who played a key role in the recent coalition government formation. Shivakumar, or DKS as he is known locally, who is being investigated by the enforcement directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,makes no secret of his ambition to eventually become the state’s chief minister. From Kanakapura in southern Karnataka, he had already ensured that his younger brother, DK Suresh, became an MP. But DKS realised that being a Vokkaliga — the second most powerful caste — he would find it tough to become CM without a support base across the state.
So DKS has been backing second-rung leaders across various districts, including Hebbalkar in Belagavi. The Jarkiholis, who were miffed at what they saw as interference in what they see as their territory, are now threatening to destabilise the coalition government unless DKS is reined in. With Siddaramaiah, the Congress Legislature Party leader, unable to mollify the Jarkiholis and the BJP happy to fish in troubled waters, Congress president Rahul Gandhi needs to directly intervene if he wants to save the state government. He must broker peace between the bickering factions in the party.