Coup bid just after 3 months?

Anything is possible in politics – even if the ruling party has an overwhelming majority of 135 seats in a 224-member Assembly. So the theory advanced by state Congress president and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar that attempts are being made from ‘outside’ to topple the Congress government in the state, is not something that can be dismissed as an impossible dream.

Those familiar with the rough and tumble of Karnataka politics in the past few decades would vouch for it that with money power and political guile, toppling an elected government is not as difficult as it may seem to many. In 2008, BS Yediyurappa rode to power after the Assembly polls and became CM though his party lacked a clear majority in the House.

The BJP managed to secure the support of Independents with the lure of power and ensured that it remained in the saddle for five years, albeit with three CMs.

More recently, in 2019, the BJP engaged in a toppling game rarely seen before in Indian politics after it could secure only 104 seats in the Assembly polls, running short by about 10 seats. Sensing an opportunity to seize power, the Congress and JD(S) joined hands with 80 and 37 seats respectively with HD Kumaraswamy heading the coalition government.

Alas, the government was not to last long with a section of ‘dissatisfied’ Congress and JD(S) MLAs breaking away from the coalition to join the BJP. The die was cast for the formation of a BJP government with Yediyurappa once again at the helm; and in the bypolls forced by the resignation of the JD(S) and Congress legislators from their respective parties, the new BJP members won 12 of the 15 seats ensuring a comfortable majority for the saffronists in the Assembly.

Are moves of this kind now being made with a ‘remote control’ in Singapore where JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy is recuperating after the Assembly session?

Considering the manner in which HD Deve Gowda’s son engineered a coup in 2006 to topple then CM Dharam Singh of the Congress from the seat of power, and became CM himself, nothing can be ruled out.

And more so when it is the seasoned DK Shivakumar himself who is pointing fingers at a ‘Singapore plot’ to unseat the Congress from power. But democracy rests on the edifice of the will of the people and the people of Karnataka have decisively voted in favour of the Congress party which is now busy in the process of implementing its popular poll guarantees.

There is no doubt that it is these guarantees that endeared the grand old party to the people. Any move to topple such a government which has earned an overwhelming mandate from citizens is sure to be greeted with outrage and a sense of disbelief.

There are sure to be hiccups as the government sets out to fulfil its agenda, and even rumblings within the ruling party over denied berths and unkept promises cannot be ruled out; but these cannot and should not spell trouble for a government just three months old and still trying to find its feet.

There will of course always be attempts by the opposition to ‘fish in troubled waters’ but with determination and unity, such attempts can always be foiled.

The victory of the Congress in Karnataka over the BJP had helped in spurring efforts for opposition unity at the national level, for the Siddu-DKS combine proved that with the right kind of planning and an early campaign, no one is unbeatable, not even the Modi-led BJP.

And if attempts are being made from ‘inside or outside’ to create disquiet in the ruling party, as suspected by some leaders like Shivakumar, the Congress should know that it has enough stalwarts who can smell a rat and defeat any such plot. Unless of course any such conspiracy has the help of ‘hidden’ hands within.