BJP’s  Yeddy-Reddy Muddle Reaching Point of no Return?
by Gabriel Vaz
Daijiworld Media Network

Bangalore, Oct 28: In less than 18 months after coming to power on its own in Karnataka, the B S Yeddyurappa-led BJP government seems to be hurtling towards serious trouble with some of the ``dissident’’ legislators, including ministers, insisting on a change of leadership.

Ironically, the Bellary mining lords – comprising tourism and infrastructure minister G Janardhana Reddy, his elder brother and revenue minister G Karunakar Reddy and their close confidant B Sriramulu -  the mainstay of the saffron brigade in the state, are mounting the banner of revolt against the chief minister. This group loaded with piles of money is bent of dethroning Yeddyurappa and replacing him with state assembly speaker Jagadish Shettar.

Even before the BJP national leadership’s trusted emissary Arun Jaitely could land in Bangalore on a rapproachment mission between the two warring factions, the chief minister struck the first blow by transferring the Bellary district’s deputy commissioner Shivappa and superintendent of police Seemanth Kumar Singh, who are considered quite close to the Reddy brothers, and also the principal secretary of the health department I R Perumal besides shifting the Bellary deputy conservator of forests S Muthaiah.

CM BSY : Day's Ups and Downs - Oct 28, 2009

Jaitely, who held a detailed discussion with the chief minister and state BJP president D V Sadananda Gowda and many other cabinet ministers, and later with G Karunakar Reddy at the private Taj West-End Hotel, which is bang opposite the chief minister’s official residence, declined to divulge details of his discussions. He, however, made a cryptic remark in declaring: ``There is no question of change in leadership. Everything will be fine.’’

The BJP trouble-shooter may not be entirely off the mark because the Reddy brothers, despite their huge money power, are believed to be in a position to lure half a dozen ministers and a maximum of two dozen legislators despite claims of reaching a figure of 40. Given the constitutional requirement of getting a minimum of two-thirds the strength of a political party to engineer a valid split under the anti-defection law to escape disqualification or 80 out of the 117 plus one including the speaker strength of BJP, it might be a tall order to split the party. In this respect, the 27 member JD(S) group might be in a better position to decide its future if the party supremo H D Deve Gowda and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, who hate the Reddys, wish to bury the hatchet and support Yeddyurappa out of spite of Bellary mining lords. The 74-member Congress legislature party is unlikely to do business either with Yeddyurappa or Reddys.

With Bellary being the fiefdom of the Reddy brothers and Janardhana Reddy being the district in-charge minister, Yeddyurappa’s sudden decision of transferring the deputy commissioner and superintended of police without even bothering to consult them, and quickly appointing no-nonsense officers like Harsha Gupta, who was serving as the deputy commissioner of Bidar district, and IPS officer D C Rajappa, SP of Bangalore, in the two key posts and appointing M Madan Gopal, who is known to be inflexible as the principal secretary of health and family welfare department, besides appointing the Chamarajanagar deputy conservator of forests Biswajit Mishra, to Bellary. These steps of shunting officers, more loyal to the Reddy brothers than the people or the government, is viewed as Yeddyurappa’s resolve to humble the Reddy brothers.

A non-challant chief minister termed the shunting of the officers as: ``It is a routine administrative exercise. There is nothing special about it. We wanted some good officers in Bellary to implement relief works in flood hit areas. It doesn't mean that those who were transferred are not good officials. There is no connection between the transfer of officials and rehabilitation work.’’

Adding insult to injury, Yeddyurappa held a discussion with the striking doctors without waiting for the arrival of health minister Sriramulu and accepted most of their demands, thereby ending the strike. Incidentally, the principal secretary of health and family welfare department I R Perumal, who had been transferred out this morning, was also kept out of the parleys with the striking doctors. Apparently, the chief minister wanted to send out the message that he was completely in control.

In a parallel development, the Andhra Pradesh police have registered a case against alleged encroachment of forest-cum-mining lands by the Reddys indicating that the political climate in the neighbouring state was not very conducive to the Bellary mining lords, whose Obalapuram Mining and Brahmani Steel Factory in Andhra Pradesh has former chief minister Y S Rajashekar Reddy’s son and Kadapa MP, Jagan, as s partner. The recent tragic death of Rajashekar Reddy in a helicopter crash and the Congress high command’s  cold-shouldering of the demand of Jagan’s supporters to make him the chief minister has made the Bellary mining baron’s situation precarious.

Though the Yeddyurappa regime had been facing pinpricks from disgruntled legislators from within the ruling party on and off, the first major rebellion surfaced when the government was celebrating its first year in office through Vikas Sankalp Utsavs in Bangalore and other districts, which were boycotted by the  Bellary mining barons.

Surprisingly, even a staunch Yeddyurappa-loyalist like energy minister K S Eshwarappa, who also hails from the chief minister’s home district of Shimoga, was in the forefront of the detractors. And, he took up cudgels against the chief minister for promoting his son B Y Raghavendra as the party candidate from the district against former chief minister S Bangrappa in sharp violation of BJP’s constant tirade against Congress party’s dynasty politics. Fortunately for Yeddyurappa, BJP’s central leadership intervened to pacify the rebellion. The Reddy brothers as well as Eshwarappa buried the hatchet and fell in line, asserting that Yeddyurappa regime will complete its full five-year term.

And now, dissidence war has erupted again in the aftermath of Karnataka’s worst-ever flood havoc in the northern parts of the state and especially after the flood waters have receded when the focus of all legislators, especially those of the ruling party, and government is rehabilitation of the millions of the flood-affected people.

This time, though, the banner of revolt is spearheaded by the Bellary mining lords, who have gone to the extent of attacking Yeddyurappa’s close followers – rural development and panchayat raj minister Shobha Karandlaje and home minister Dr V S Acharya, both of whom hailing from the coastal region, for interfering in the functioning of other ministers – and have also demanded change of leadership.

Yet another reason for the anger of Reddy brothers against Yeddyurappa is his recent decision of ordering transfer of Gadag deputy commissioner Dr N V Prasad, considered quite close to Sriramulu, for alleged irregularities in the handling of relief operations and complaints from the victims without consulting the revenue minister. The chief minister’s decision to appoint industrialist-turned-politician Rajiv Chandrashekar, Rajya Sabha member, as the chairman of the ``Asare’’ rehabilitation programme being implemented by the government without bothering to take the revenue minister into confidence, has also enraged the Bellary mining lords.

Sensing the seriousness of the situation, which could snowball  into a bigger crisis that might lead to destabilising the government if not contained in the beginning, the BJP national leadership has despatched the saffron  strategist Arun Jaitely to negotiate with the warring factions and effect a patch-up. BJP senior vice president Venkaiah Naidu was also scheduled to visit the state, ostensibly for medical treatment, had not turned up till evening. In any case, both Jaitely and Naidu are quite conversant with the political situation in the state besides being familiar with most of the state BJP leaders by virtue of their association with state party unit in the past.

Jaitely, who himself had rebelled against BJP national president Rajnath Singh during the run-up to the lok sabha polls and finally relented, landed up in Bangalore in the afternoon and held a detailed discussion with the chief minister and state party president D V Sadananda Gowda, Udupi lok sabha member, and several other ministers. In the evening, Jaitely held a nearly two-hour-long meeting with G Karunakar Reddy, who rushed back to Bangalore from Bellary after launching their ``Navagrama’’ rehabilitation programme at Matur and T S Kudlur villages of Siruguppa taluk in Bellary district in the morning even before the government could launch its official programme.

The two ministerial Reddy brothers and their trusted ministerial lieutenant Sriramulu trained their guns at Yeddyurappa at the function without directly naming him. While Janardhana Reddy and Karunakar Reddy made it clear that rehabilitation of the flood victims was their first priority, Sriramulu launched a veiled attack against Yeddyurappa and said: ``We are not interested in power or position. It is the welfare of the people that is of paramount importance to us.’’

While Janardhana Reddy stayed put in Bellary, Karunakar Reddy and Sriramulu rushed to Bangalore. The elder Reddy brother met Jaitely at Taj West-End Hotel and listed out the group’s grievances and quietly slipped out through the backdoor. Sriramulu held parleys with his supporters at the residence of a close follower in the city and later shifted the confabulations with the dissident group to a resort near Nelamangala. The BJP dissident legislators M P Renukacharya, Gopalakrishna Belur and former minister S K Bellubbi were among the participants.

Meanwhile, the assembly speaker Jagadish Shettar, who is increasingly under pressure to give up his post and emerge as an alternative candidate to head the government in place of Yeddyurappa, went to Myosre to attend the wedding of BJP MLA Shankaralinge Gowda’s son and later called on the pontiff of Suttur Mutt, near Mysore. Incidentally, transport minister R Ashok, who seems to be distancing himself from the chief minister allegedly because of the latter’s preference to Shobha Karandlaje, a Dakshina Kannada Bunt,  instead of a Vokkaliga from Old Mysore region like himself, also visited the Suttur Mutt along with another dissident BJP MLA A Ramadas. Ashok was in Mysore to attend the inauguration of the newly built bus-stand.

With Jaitely deciding to stay back in the city and the state cabinet scheduled to meet in the evening, the BJP national leader is likely to meet the other dissident leaders on Thursday. It remains to be seen whether Jaitely will be able to resolve to the war of dissidence and bring the party back from the point of no return or recommends a change of leadership? It is interesting to watch whether Shettar, who had been promised ministership after completing a year as speaker, will be able to join the ministry or become the chief minister himself.