The Janata Dal-Congress coalition has triumphed, but ‘it was a damned close run thing,’ as the victorious Duke of Wellington is supposed to have exclaimed after the Battle of Waterloo. The coalition had the numbers, the BJP did not, as its State leader B.S.Yeddurappa sullenly recognized when resigning without even a mandatory floor-count.
Back, then, to basics. The Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections had produced a hung chamber. Despite this, the BJP’s had emerged as the largest party in the State with 104 seats, just short of the 112 seats that would have given it an absolute majority and ensured it the reins of power.
The governing Congress Party with 122 seats in the old Legislative Assembly, won only 78 this time round, while the third party, the Janata Dal United (Secular) made held the balance between the two with 38 seats. Janata Dal-Congress coalition based on their combined 118 Assembly seats won the day. By supporting the regional JDU (S), Congress appears to be signaling its willingness to cut deals with likeminded regional parties. A JDU(S) Chief Minister, with Congress support, is set to take over the reins.
Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala, a BJP appointee with strong RSS connections, exceeded discretion by permitting the BJP 15 days in which to prove they had the numbers to form the next government. The Supreme Court brought the Governor sharply to heel by issuing instructions that the vote of confidence had to be taken at 4 pm on Saturday, May 19, thus aborting any possible skullduggery of buying defectors in a bid to install a BJP ministry headed by Yeddurappa. The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and this was one such case.
The JDU(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy will face a vote of confidence and has the numbers to form the next state government with the support of the Congress party. The impact of these developments could be far-reaching, although it would be hazardous to make a prediction just yet. BJP President Amit Shah has clearly lost face. So has his party. Their powers of recovery will surely be tested to the full over the next weeks and months. The Supreme Court sent out a robust signal in upholding democratic values and the rule of law.
Fact file
A further fact should be taken into account. The Congress vote-share of 38 per cent to the BJP’s 36.2 per cent, while the JDU (S) polled 18.3 per cent share of the vote, slightly down on the 20.19 it polled in 2013. (Media reports, May 18,19, 20).
Cabinet reshuffle
While Karnataka endured its election convulsions and holding its breath awaiting the election results, Prime Minister Modi initiated a Cabinet reshuffle, removing the high profile Smriti Irani from her exalted perch as Information & Broadcasting Minister, passing the baton to Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, who thus takes a step up the political ladder. The capable Railway Minister Piyush Goyal takes temporary concurrent charge of the Finance Ministry, while the present incumbent Arun Jaitley recovers from his recent renal operation. (Times of India, Hindu May 15).
Tharoor charged
In arguably the most challenging case, lasting 1,577 days (4 years), encountered by the Delhi Police, an investigation into the death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of the high profile Congress politician Shashi Tharoor, ended with a charge against Tharoor of aiding and abetting his wife’s suicide through sustained harassment and psychological pressure. During the investigation, the Delhi Police called upon the America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for help in the latest techniques to unravel the mystery of Pushkar’s death. It was the longest and most expensive investigation in the annals of the Delhi police with many technical firsts in the investigative process. The charges against Tharoor run to thousands of pages.
Witch hunt
The Congress Party has dismissed the charges as a witch hunt. The BJP has averred, correctly, that he should resign his seat in Parliament until his name is cleared in a court of law. Tharoor is no innocent. His public life has been tainted with scandal, one of which related to his activities in Indian cricket’s Premier League (IPL). notwithstanding his high voltage, anti-British statements as proof of his Indian patriotism, It doesn’t, of course, follow that Tharoor is guilty as charged. That is for the courts to decide (Times of India May 15).
ITBP beefed up
The paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBF) is being strengthened in phases with greater manpower, infrastructure, theatre command headquarters, a dozen patrol camps and 47 new border outposts along the 3,488 km India-China border.
Nine new battalions of 9,000 men will patrol the Indo-Tibetan Chinese border. The government is planning to raise 15 new battalions for duty along the frontiers with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The theatre command headquarters of the ITBP in all probability will be located in Arunachal Pradesh and extend to Sikkim.
PM to visit Russia
Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit Sochi for a one-to-one conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. That set the cat among certain Indian media pigeons, notably The Times of India’s egregious Diplomatic Correspondent Indrani Bagchi, who declared sourly that that it was ‘undeniable India and Russia are on different global trajectories,’ ergo, that their relationship lacked content. Factoid cannot be transformed into verifiable fact through ritualized incantation.
Reality check
Almost a century ago, a great English newspaper editor pronounced: ‘Facts are sacred, comment is free.’ Bagchi’s tendentious piece was high in subjective comment and lamentably devoid of verifiable fact. Kallol Bhattacharjee’s report in The Hindu included the following fact by India’s Ministry of External Affairs: ‘This will be an important occasion for the two leaders to exchange views on international matters in a broad and long-term perspective with the objective of further strengthening our special and privileged strategic partnership. Both leaders will also discuss their respective national developmental priorities and bilateral matters.’
The statement, wrote Bhattacharjee, ‘comes days after [Indian] Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met with [Russian] Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. Indicating the long-term perspective of the partnership,’ Doval referred to the ‘multilateral platforms such as the Russia-India-China (RIC), BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Doval explained: ‘All this allows us to interact and coordinate our approaches in the UN and various military and political mechanisms in the Asia Pacific region.’ He pointed to a gradual reset of ties between India, Russia and China.
Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, in The Economic Times, broadly replicated this take, supplanting this with details, such as Doval’s two (not one) visits to Russia in the last two months, plus that of the BJP ideologue Ram Madhav.
India and Russia have regular consultations on international and bilateral matters at the highest levels. Summing up, the Sochi Summit comes in the wake of Putin’s re-election as President of the Russian Federation and his subsequent inauguration to that office.
(Times of India, Hindu, Economic Times, Business Line May 15).
No kowtowing to US bullying
As an afterword, the External Affairs Ministry, in what appears to be a privileged briefing, told The Hindu’s Diplomatic Correspondent Suhasini Haider, that India would not bow to American demands that its projected sanctions against Russia and Iran be obeyed, or otherwise India itself could be sanctioned. With Russia in mind, a bristling Ministry source told Haider: ‘We are not going to allow our defence requirements to be dictated by any other country. Whatever is in India’s interests in terms of procuring equipment for national security is what will determine how we act…’
Solidarity with Russia
Haider writes: ‘ The government has made it clear that it is also standing by Russia on the latest standoff with western countries over the Salisbury case of chemical poisoning of two Russians in the UK, as well as alleged Russian support to the Assad regime for chemical attacks in Syria.’ She said the Ministry had ‘demanded evidence of these allegations before “apportioning blame.” ‘
Prime Minister Modi’s one-to-one talks with President Putin are expected to last 4-6 hours, following which the Indian Premier will take the evening flight home. (Hindu May 18).
Indian outreach to North Korea
General V.K. Singh’s surprise visit to North Korea tells of India’s ambitious and imaginative diplomatic outreach. As Minister of State at the Ministry of External Affairs, he is senior-most Indian dignitary to visit this hitherto reclusive state, now fully engaged with the international community. It would be best to assess his visit to Pyongyang on the chessboard of Prime Minister Modi’s forthcoming summit with President Putin in Sochi. General Singh met with North Korean Vice President Kim Yong Dai and Foreign and Cultural Affairs Ministers and discussed a range of political, economic and regional issues.
Indian concerns
General Singh expressed India’s nuclear proliferation concerns in the context of its combustible neighborhood [read Pakistan]; his North Korean hosts assured him that, as a friendly country, they would do nothing to injure Indian interests. India’s newly appointed an ambassador to North Korea has presented his credentials (Hindu May 15).
