Political analysts blame Congress, JD(S) for Karnataka crisis

New Delhi, July 08: Political analysts are of the opinion that the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) are responsible for the Karnataka crisis.

They say that the damage control by coalition partners in Karnataka is too late and it's unlikely to bring good news to them.

The 13-month-old Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress Government in the state is on a shaky wicket with nine Congress and three JD(S) MLAs submitting their resignation letters to the Speaker's office.

The crisis deepened on Monday with the resignation of Independent MLA and Minister H Nagesh.

To placate the rebel MLAs, 21 Minister of Congress tendered their resignations. After this, Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy tweeted, "All ministers from #JDS have submitted their resignations just like the 21 ministers from #Congress. Cabinet reshuffle will happen soon. (sic)".

Shaken senior Congress leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Ahmed Patel and Motilal Vora will discuss the Karnataka situation in a meeting at 7 p.m. in Delhi to discuss the Karnataka crisis.

Though the Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of engineering defections of party MLAs through a 'pre-determined, well-calculated design', the political analysts say that the Karnataka crisis is the result of factionalism within the Congress and Chief Minister Kumaraswamy's unpopularity among his party MLAs.

A political analyst says that the Karnataka crisis has exposed ineffectiveness of Congress' managers.

"It's not only in Karnataka but the Congress managers have also failed in other states. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel comes from Gujarat where Congress MLAs continue to resign. Gujarat in-charge Rajiv Satav is not able to handle the state where the BJP has been ruling since decades. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has been ineffective in Telangana and Karnataka. Suspended Karnataka Congress leader and MLA Roshan Beg is close to Azad," says the analyst.

"As far as Karnataka is concerned, no senior Congress leader like former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah pays any heed to the directions of in-charge K.C. Venugopal. In fact, Congress MLAs are not happy with the alliance with the JD(S) since the first day of formation of the government. Siddaramaiah's ambitions have further augmented the rift between the coalition partners," adds the analyst.

He further says that the damage control exercise by Congress and JD(S) is too late is unlikely to bring good news to them.

"As far as Congress is concerned, faction-ridden state Congress became more vulnerable after the resignation of AICC president Rahul Gandhi. Rebel Congress MLAs are unlikely to change their stand first because of their differences with state Congress leadership, and secondly because of leadership crisis at the national level," adds the analyst.

He says that the scenario in JD(S) is also not better than the Congress.

"Chief Minister Kumaraswamy is highly unpopular among both JD(S) and Congress MLAs. He is no longer popular even among his party workers and the public. The JD(S) MLAs who have resigned blamed Kumaraswamy's indifferent attitude for their revolt," says the analyst.

Many JD(S) leaders are upset over the highhandedness of the Gowda family. Instead of keeping his house in order, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda has blamed Siddaramaiah for the current crisis after some Congress MLAs demanded that he be made the next chief minister.

The analyst says that time is ripe for the BJP to achieve its target of forming government in the state.

"When rebels would assess pros and cons of BJP, Congress, and JD(S) then the BJP would emerge as their first choice. For, BJP is ruling country with a mammoth majority, has strong leadership at national as well as state level. Congress and JD(S) are like sinking ships and nobody likes to travel in a sinking ship," says the analyst.

It's notable that the BJP has so far made at least six unsuccessful attempts on the Karnataka government in the last one year, but it seems that it would succeed.