K'taka: Highly volatile political happenings in 2006

Bangalore, Dec 29: This year saw a string of political events with the Janata Dal (Secular) forming a new government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after it broke away from the Congress-led coalition government which was struggling to consolidate.

The move left the Congress in a state of shock as 39 JD(S) MLAs, led by Mr Kumaraswamy, withdrew support to the Dharam Singh government on January 23.

On January 28, Mr Kumarasamy formed a new government with the BJP on a power sharing formula under which each party would have Chief Minister for 20 months.

With former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda holding the baton, the rival faction, headed by Kerala MP Veerendra Kumar and JD(S) ideologue Surendra Mohan, parted with the JD(S) of Mr Gowda.

Though on a firm footing in Karnataka, the secular credentials of the JD(S) would be put to test in the coming year in view of its alliance with the BJP which seemed to be keen in bringing the issue of Ram Mandir to limelight.

While Mr Gowda said the BJP should be committed to the common minimum programme of the Karnataka Development Front, the Congress seems to do anything to topple the Kumaraswamy-led coalition government.

Besides politics developments in the state, Karnataka lost its illustrious son and matinee idol Rajkumar on April 12, leaving Kannada filmdom in tears as the versatile actor had left an indelible mark in the film industry.

Activities of terrorism also marked another dimension in the state. On October 27, two Al-Badr militants, who had plotted to target the Central Institute of Indian Languages in Mysore, were arrested.

The BJP, which had been making a concerted bid to form the government in the state, joined the dispensation with its senior leader B S Yediurappa becoming the Deputy Chief Minister. The highly-volatile political situation saw Mr Gowda initially disowning his son politically and suspending him along with 38 other MLAs who defied the party policies to join hands with the BJP. He, however, later patched up with his son, much to the chagrin of senior leaders such as state unit President M P Prakash and former Minister P G R Sindhia.

While the former after some initial resistance joined the Kumaraswamy government, the latter continued to maintain his separate identity and joined Mr Veerendra Kumar to claim that ''theirs was the real JD(S).'' The Veerendra Kumar faction at the national conclave party in Thiruvananthapuram in December threw Mr Gowda out of the party along with his son and others who had rebelled to signal a split in the party after a year-long differences.

The pairing did not gel well initially and there were hiccups between the parties, though it occasionaly bubbled out in the case of the BJP with former Union Minister and senior leader H N Anantkumar crossing swords with Mr Yediyurappa. The Central leadership patched up the differences on several occasions to ensure that the coalition continued smoothly.

The BJP had more problems when party Legislator Janardhana Reddy hurled corruption allegation against Mr Kumaraswamy and his ministerial colleagues that they had collected Rs 150 crore from iron ore miners.

This led to more turmoil and Mr Reddy was suspended from the party. The issue, however, has not died down as both Mr Kumaraswamy and Mr Reddy have gone to the court.

Even before the dust raised by the bribery issue could settle down, former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, suspended by the JD(S) for indulging in ''anti-party'' activities, joined the Congress and resigned his Chamundeswari Assembly seat in Mysore. Subsequently, the byelection held for the constituency in December saw an unprecedented battle of ballots between the Congress and the JD(S), in which Mr Siddaramaiah emerged victorious by a thin margin of 257 votes against JD(S) opponent Shivabasappa.

The defeat was a loss of face for the ruling combine as Mr Siddaramaiah not only scored a political point over Mr Gowda, but also consolidated his position in the Congress.

In September, history was created in the state Legislature when for the first time the two Houses met for a brief period in Belgaum.

This was expected to become an annual feature. The session was convened specifically to assure the people of Northern Karnataka that the development of backward areas of the region would be taken up on a war-footing.

Poor infrastructure continued to haunt the city and the state despite garnering global glory for its pre-eminent position in the IT and BT sectors. The much-delayed Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project was again in the news. Though the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise, implementing Rs 3,000 crore project, won many court battles, on the ground it faced serious problems in continuing the work as land was not provided to it.

The Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by the Karnataka government, seeking review of its verdict, thus clearing the project. The government had, however, decided to seek legal counsel following the apex court verdict.

UNI