from Daijiworld's political correspondent (MB)

Mangalore, Dec 28: It was common in national-level and state-level politics to see the transportation of MPs and MLAs en masse to holiday resorts in distant places to 'protect' them being wooed or lured away by political opponents.

The memories of Maharashtra MLAs being put up in Karnataka, Karnataka's JDS MLAs taken around in luxury buses in Goa, BJP MLAs taken to Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh MLAs taken to Rajasthan, involving millions of rupees, are still fresh in people's minds. The saddest part is that we, the people -  even the income tax officials - have not bothered to find out where all the money to take care of the whopping expenses came from.

We are not far behind

Now the 'resort' culture seems to have hit this city. The Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat, with Mangalore as headquarters, is until now ruled by a coalition between Congress and JDS. The arrangement was in tune with the state-level truck between Congress and JDS struck soon after the 2004 assembly elections.

In January 2006, the political equations changed at the state level, with JDS, for whom the BJP was a political untouchable all these years, finding a convenient political bed-fellow in the latter. Accordingly, the alliance was to be introduced at the district level also. However, with the district JDS president and former Beltangady MLA Vasant Bangera sticking firmly to his anti-BJP stand, the Congress-JDS alliance has continued until now.

File pic of DK zilla panchayat's sitting chairperson Mamata S Gatti at a meeting

New alliance

Now Bangera appears to be fighting an almost lone battle. Everyone in his camp appears to be resigned to the situation and lying low. He has denied rumours of his resignation from the party post and primary membership. Instead, he may be waiting to assert his stand from inside.

A no-confidence motion against incumbent ZP chairperson Mamata Gatti of Congress is likely to be moved during this week. It has remained a mystery to political observers as to how the staunchly secular JDS ZP members could change their anti-BJP stand all of a sudden and support the state party unit's decision for going along with the BJP, whom they had been calling a communal party. There are wild rumours of 'suitcase politics' making rounds.

The last 'resort'

As if to give credence to this story, there are now reports that 18 ZP members (15 of the BJP and 3 of JDS) have been secretly carted away to a secret hideout in Mysore on Wednesday, December 27, obviously with 'comfortable' arrangements of stay and enjoyment. Mamata Gatti's statement that she was accepting the no-confidence motion as a 'challenge' appears to have put suspicions in the minds of BJP-JDS strategists and the move is being seen as a precaution against any 'horse trading' from the enemy camp.

Over the past two days, BJP's district minister-in-charge Nagaraj Shetty,  former MLA from Moodbidri, Amaranath Shetty of JDS and other leaders are said to have had several rounds of talks on keeping all the 18 members safely in their fold. Apparently, to keep all the 18 members away from all possible lures and temptations, the best step thought was to take them away to a distant place, lock, stock and barrel.

With no one left to poach, the Congress camp is reportedly feeling left high and dry.

It is reliably learnt that all the 18 ZP members have been asked to return to city on Thursday night or report at the ZP meeting direct on the morning of December 29 for the vote of confidence.

Indeed, the city is progressing. At least, if not for anything else, on the count of having attained the 'resort' culture on the lines of the national level, our city has come of age.

Keep it up, Mangalore !