Originally published in The Pioneer
Just when there seemed to be no bottom to the Congress’s blundering in Andhra Pradesh, we now have the unprecedented spectacle of the Congress scripting its path to recovery in Andhra Pradesh by hitting the self-destruct mode. The internecine battle that has broken out among the various factions of the Congress inside and outside the party has not only put governance in the State on the backseat but has also created the opportunity for new political configurations to emerge.
The Congress in Andhra Pradesh is now perilously close to going from sending the largest contingent of Lok Sabha MPs to becoming a bit player in the State, shorn of all credibility. The contempt with which the Congress leadership has treated a State that has been its mainstay is evident from the fact that neither Sonia Gandhi nor Rahul Gandhi have set foot in the State since the blundering over Telangana began after YSR’s death. The management of the Congress’s affairs has been left to backroom operators and bit players with no mass base.
It is telling that the Congress’s grand strategy in Andhra for a recovery hinges on turning on its own indiscriminately even at the risk of high collateral damage. It has had the bizarre consequence of Congress leaders playing the Hindu card to politically corner the late YSR’s son Jagan, a Christian. For the first time in the history of that State, a serving Cabinet Minister has been arrested by the CBI. The resulting environment of distrust it has created within the Congress in Andhra Pradesh has had a curious fallout where the different factions can no longer tell friend from foe.
The BJP in Karnataka cannot afford to make the Congress’s Andhra mistake in a State that sends the largest number of MPs from that party.
The just concluded National Executive of the BJP in Mumbai ended on a high note with a photo-op of its future leadership. A notable omission from that photo-op was the BJP’s representation from the south of Vindhyas. In the battle for 2014 the BJP’s prospects depend on a number of factors coming together in its favour. But towering all of them is the need for a repeat performance in Karnataka. Karnataka’s political significance to the BJP lies not just in the number of the party’s MPs it sends to the Lok Sabha but also in its symbolic significance to the BJP, giving it a footprint south of Vindhyas.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who emerged as the tallest leader of the BJP at the National Executive, made a pertinent point in his blistering speech ripping apart the UPA at a public rally in Mumbai. Speaking of Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s vision of interlinking rivers, Mr Modi lamented the UPA’s delinquency when it came to building infrastructure. The BJP’s economic resolution as well dwelt on length on the political commitment to infrastructure development and capacity building.
It is noteworthy that, despite all the political turmoil, the BJP Government in Karnataka has accomplished a continuity of sorts in its mission to develop and add capacity to public transport in Bangalore. Many of the initiatives conceived during Mr Yeddyurappa’s reign continue to be sponsored through Mr DV Sadananda Gowda’s rule. But there is a real risk in Karnataka that the efforts put into infrastructure by the BJP could end up in a manner similar to the efforts into the National Highway system by the Vajpayee-led NDA. With the record number of Volvo buses, there was already a perceptible difference in the quality of commute in Bangalore. With the plans to integrate the Metro with the bus system and further applying technology to streamline the fleet, there is immense promise for a transformed public transport experience.
If continuity in political commitment saw the BJP sustain some of its efforts in Bangalore, the absence of the same continuity from the NDA-era into the UPA regime saw the National Highway expansion efforts stall. Hence, it becomes doubly important that the BJP not just avoid the Congress’s Andhra Pradesh mistake but to immediately and urgently take positive steps to shore up its political prospects in Karnataka.
The just concluded National Executive of the BJP signals the advent of an era where the party sees its strength in its federated power centres — in its performing Chief Ministers across the various States. It is incumbent upon the BJP to add Karnataka to the list of its showcase States. Mr Yeddyurappa, and Mr Gowda, sees Narendra Modi as a role model.
Leveraging his first among equals status, Mr Modi must expend some serious political capital to help the BJP set right its affairs in Karnataka urgently, by bringing together both of his understudies to thrash a way forward that is markedly different from the path chosen by the Congress in Andhra Pradesh to secure its southern mainstay.
Filed under: Narendra Modi, Nitin Gadkari, Telangana, UPA-II Critical Appraisal
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