Senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister K.S. Eshwarappa has been holding a series of religious events to “please the rain gods”, and this seems to have put him in a spiritual frame of mind. In the wake of severe drought, he organised the ‘Parjanya Sukta Homa’, chariot festival of Shaneshwara temple in Shivamogga city, and so on. When asked about his serial religious engagements, he declared, “I will quit politics but not religious activities.” He continued, waxing philosophical, “Politics is all about deception and back-stabbing, but it is possible to realise peace and tranquillity through spiritualism.”
Mr. Eshwarappa said he had great respect for anyone who, like him, had strong belief in religion. “I have great respect towards JD(S) national president H.D. Deve Gowda and his elder son H.D. Revanna for the faith they have in God. Without offering puja, they don’t step out of their homes,” he said.
In recent days, even Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who claimed to be a rationalist, has been seen visiting temples and meeting spiritual heads, Mr. Eshwarappa said, appreciating this “positive change”. He went on to predict that “our CM’s faith in the almighty will increase in the coming days.”
Not seeing
eye to eye?
Do Karnataka State BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa and Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar not see eye to eye? A series of incidents suggest this. Most recently, they had differences of opinion over the selection of candidates for the Legislative Council elections from the Legislative Assembly constituency.
A few days ago, Mr. Yeddyurappa was not to be seen at a press conference convened by Mr. Shettar to list out “failures” of the three-year-old Siddaramaiah government. The State BJP chief’s absence was evident, as all other leaders, including Union Minister Ananth Kumar, were present. Also, Mr. Shettar was conspicuous by his absence when Mr. Yeddyurappa submitted a “study report” on the drought situation to Governor Vajubhai R. Vala at an event held to mark the completion of two years of the Narendra Modi government. Mr. Shettar had his own excuses and attributed it to a pre-scheduled programme.
So much so, Mr. Yeddyurappa is said to have been unhappy with the booklet brought out by Mr. Shettar on the failures of the Siddaramaiah government. Now, the State BJP chief apparently wants to release a separate booklet highlighting the failures of the Congress government.
A steep U-turn
Trouble is brewing in the dissidence-ridden Janata Dal (S) just about everywhere. It is not restricted to the State-level political arena ahead of Rajya Sabha polls, but has percolated down to the taluk level. The recent dramatic events at Kolar are testimony to this.
In spite of having a simple majority, JD(S) has not succeeded in capturing Kolar taluk panchayat, thanks to the shift in the loyalty of a member. In the 25-member local body, JD(S) has 13 seats, while the Congress has 12. In an effort to maintain unity among its members, the JD(S) arranged a trip to Goa and all members returned to the city only on the eve of the elections to the posts of president and vice-president. However, the calculations of JD(S) went awry when member Begli Srinivas took a U-turn the last minute and voted in favour of Congress nominee Anjanappa for the post of president. As the defeat became imminent, JD(S) candidate Manjunath, and another party member walked out of the election process. The Congress nominee won the president’s post by 13-10 votes.
Interestingly, Mr. Srinivas favoured the Congress candidate for the president’s post, but supported JD(S) nominee Nagaveni for the vice-president’s post. But Ms. Nagaveni could not muster the numbers and the Congress won that post as well. JD(S) has since expelled Mr. Srinivas from the party on charges of anti-party activities.
Veerendra P.M.
Muralidhara Khajane
Vishwa Kundapura
