KARNATAKA OPENS DOOR TO ANTI-MODI ALLIANCE IN 2019

‘We believe Kumaraswamy was flexible, but Deve Gowda has the dream of becoming PM again so he preferred to remain connected to non-BJP forces,’ said a senior BJP leader.

Karnataka’s fractured mandate and the subsequent resignation of B. S. Yeddyurappa on Saturday after a short two-day stint as Chief Minister, as he could not muster a majority for the Bharatiya Janata Party, will have a farreaching impact on national politics and alliances that will be formed to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

According to a senior Congress leader and member of the core team that took decisions related to the Karnataka elections, “Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) had a tentative understanding before the elections that if we got 100 plus seats, but remained short of majority then the chief ministerial candidate would be from Congress and JDS would support him. But if Congress stayed below the 100-mark, as it happened, then (H.D.) Kumaraswamy would be Chief Minister and Congress would take the secondary position.”

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury acted as the catalyst between the Congress and JDS, to persuade H.D. Deve Gowda to accept the tentative formula. However, no understanding could be reached for a pre- election alliance, but the “100-seats-plus-minus” agreement helped them to take quick decisions soon after the results. Before the official results were announced, Congress took the bold political decision to accept Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister. It was done keeping in mind four main political considerations, explained a senior Congress leader while talking to The Sunday Guardian.

First, Rahul Gandhi is open to any idea, in any form, which dents BJP’s powers even at a political cost to the Congress. Rahul was so desperate to stop the BJP in Karnataka that he was ready to disregard even his party’s long term prospects in the state. On 15 and 16 May, Mamata Banerjee, Sitaram Yechury and many other regional leaders got active to ensure that Sonia and Rahul Gandhi extended support to Kumaraswamy.

Two, Deve Gowda still nurses the ambition to become Prime Minister once more and has been deliberating on the matter of an Opposition alliance with regional leaders such as Mamata Banerjee. The West Bengal Chief Minister is keen on giving shape to a “federal front” as a non-BJP nonCongress platform to take on the BJP in 2019. But by accepting Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister, Congress has succeeded in making a slight dent in the idea of the “federal front”. Now Deve Gowda is partnering with the Congress and inside and outside Parliament he will be under pressure to collaborate with the Congress to keep the Kar- nataka government stable.

Three, Congress thinks that in the coming months, “if Dalits, Muslims and Vokkaligas are taken care of properly” then BJP can be damaged seriously in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka.

The fourth factor that influenced Congress was to ensure that the “gateway to South India” remained closed for BJP as much as possible.

Once Rahul Gandhi took the decision to support Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister, Congress’ core team ensured