October 30, 2007 at 8:47 pm · Filed under politics, regional
I thought ‘JD(S)’ stands for ‘Janata Dal (Secular)’. Oops, it turns out - that’s the wrong expansion. The accurate one is: ‘Just Doing the State’.
Yes. They really are doing us all.
When H D Kumaraswamy took the hot-seat in February 2006, we were slightly surprised, weren’t we? I mean, here’s a son rising against the father, and while Gowda Sr. quietly mumbled his discomfort at the BJP alliance, the son makes a promise to the people of a state.
Only to break it, rather unsurprisingly, a year and a half later.
If the son is the icing, big-daddy Gowda is the cherry on the cake of cunning politics. They say looks are deceptive - in his case, they’re mindboggling. He comes across as a person who would struggle to rule an acre in Kanakhpura, and he actually went on to become the Prime Minister of the Nation. But beneath that expressionless face, beyond that plain-vanilla raagi-hittu diet, there is something about the man that stands out. And it’s quite evident.
Too bad for him it’s his lust for power, an omen of which is the recent influence on the son to halt the power-transfer, which left a power-erect Yediyurrappa who had to suddenly go limp, forced to retreat as a result of what the BJP famously overtitled ‘the betrayal’.
And just like your local Bangalore rickwaala would take a shocking U-turn from under your nose without any indication, the JD(S) have come back wanting to support the BJP. It’s like divorcing a woman, and when you realise you aren’t getting any action at night, and you go back to her, ‘will you marry me?’
But even the women would have better sense. However - The Brainless Janata Party (or the BJP) - who were actually in the middle of their election campaign, agreed immediately, as if they are a powerlust-starved entity and not a party responsible for the welfare of the people.
Had Yediyurappa really gotten this hard?
The trigger for the JD(S) thrusting into reverse gear, undeniably, ought to be the actions of a certain rebel JD(S) leader who goes by the name of M P Prakash. I’ll forgive you for going ‘M P who?’ as it’s usually the Gowda household that hogs all the limelight. Prakash - himself an accomplished and respected leader - who enjoys a following even within the Kumarasamy camp, went on spawning his own thread in alliance with the Congress. Prakash also enjoys more support from a dominant Lingayat community, and the window of opportunity to go on and become the CM in a Congress alliance would’ve sent Godwa’s panic-o-meter running.
And somehow, base-Gowda has come out tops again, with the majority.
When will the leaders realise that this a promise they make to their people, and not a game of musical-chairs?
Anyway, here we are back to square one.
- - -
It is no secret that the mean-supreme Gowda’s eyes remain shut more often than not. So, it seems appropriate that while the party is led by namma Kumbhakarna, typing JD(S) on MSN Messenger yields this:
October 6, 2007 at 1:02 pm · Filed under bangalore, politics
Or, abbreviated, KLPD in Karnataka. For Yediyurappa, atleast.
Read on carefully. This post reveals two startling facts, albeit digressive. The first, Ram isn’t fictional. The second, he exists among us.
For those of you who remember the epic (or atleast, the Amar Chitra Katha versions), they might remember Kumbhakarna, the demon rakshasa that slept for six months at a stretch, while the affairs of the state were looked after by others. When he did wake up, of course, he ended up being hungry as hell, eating anything possible in his vicinity.
Just to prove that the Ramayana ought to be classified under the genre we know as non-fiction, Kumbhakarna still exists today. Put the dots together - who do you know, who sleeps all the time when the state was managed by others? Who do you know just woke up hungry (or hungrier) for power - the same demon that wasn’t even in the picture when the previous leader was elected?
Why, H. D. Devegowda of course.
There you go - Valmiki didn’t make it all up, there is a Kumbhakarna after all - in flesh, blood and bone amongst us, so there must be a Ram somewhere too. What it also does prove, is that Karunanidhi is full of shit - although the last statement didn’t really require a testimonial.
On with affairs of the state, then?
We all know that, in the recent past, Vidhana Soudha’s inhabitants have been - er - substandard, to say the least. S. M. Krishna got his geography wrong - he simply mistook Bangalore for Karnataka. Dharam Singh never understood first-grade geography anyhow, so he decided to change it, rechristening the city, as Bengalooru was reborn. And when HD was elected, it was initially promising. First, big-daddy Gowda keeps away from limelight – the son wasn’t exactly following in the father’s footsteps. Soon, namma metro materialized (atleast, on paper, although they’ve been rummaging through the city as if it were a garage sale).
It did seem that Gowda Sr. was keeping away from the son’s rise. Not anymore, though. Looks like appa’s been batting for the maga as the supremo’s been calling all the shots.
Like the average Bangalorean who woke up today to this bit of disgusting news, I’m not too disappointed - I’m in splits. We all need to learn to laugh at ourselves anyway, especially when the government ends up getting into a mess like it has now. With Devegowda, I thought that politics can’t get dirtier, but here he is taking it to an all-time low.
I wonder what’s going to happen now. Certainly looks like the BJP have pulled out, the same way a participant would pull out of a threesome, considering that the existing setup is indeed screwing the state, almost literally. What next? Congress coalition? More polls?
In other news last night, Sadashivnagar (the bit of Bangalore where most ministers live, including the Gowda kin and kith) remained in the dark. Looks like BESCOM didn’t enjoy the JD(S) decision too much, and pulled out a plug or two.
Things that people do these days with power. As they would say in this city, kallaru nanna makkulu …
