Political tremors that rocked Karnataka

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The past year saw major political developments in Karnataka.Here are a few of the same:

‘Santro’ Ravi nabbed

KS Manjunath, better known as ‘Santro’ Ravi, was arrested in Ahmedabad by Karnataka and Gujarat cops in a joint operation in January.

The alleged human trafficker came under fresh scrutiny after a Mysuru-based Dalit woman, claiming to have been married to him, complained to city cops that he had sexually assaulted her before marriage, harassed her for dowry after tying the knot and hurled casteist slurs at her.

Thereafter, pictures of BJP ministers such as Araga Jnanendra, K Sudhakar and BC Nagesh posing with Ravi started doing the rounds. Congress alleged Ravi was a BJP worker.

Congress romps home with 135 seats

The Grand Old Party made a huge comeback in Karnataka on May 13, winning a simple majority of 135 seats out of a possible 224.

The ruling BJP was reduced to 66 seats with sitting ministers such as Murugesh Nirani (Industries), JC Madhuswamy (Law), MTB Nagaraj (Small Scale Industries), Govind Karjol (Minor Irrigation), V Somanna (Housing), K Sudhakar (Health), B Sriramulu (Transport), BC Nagesh (Education) and others biting the dust.

Facing an existential crisis, JD(S)’ seat tally dipped from 37 in 2018 to 19 in 2023. Their vote share plummeted from 18.3 per cent to 13.3 per cent.

Shivakumar agrees to be deputy with conditions.

About a week after the poll results, Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar yielded to Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge and Nehru-Gandhis and agreed to accept the post of Deputy Chief Minister.

The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) had elected Siddaramaiah as their leader on May 14.

However, it has been Karnataka politics’ worst kept secret that there is a power sharing agreement, which would see Siddaramaiah step down and let Shivakumar take over for the second half of the five-year term.

Opposition names itself INDIA

On July 18, the pan-India Opposition alliance of 26 parties met in Bengaluru and announced that it had christened itself the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee came up with the idea that the alliance should call itself INDIA and think up an expansion later.

Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, who chaired the meeting, revealed the constitution of an 11-member co-ordination committee which would decide on a pan-India seat sharing arrangement.

Cash for transfers claim rears ugly head again

On November 16, CM Siddaramaiah's son Yathindra was accused of corruption after a video, where he was issuing vague instructions on his phone, went viral on social media.

Yathindra, who is also the Shelter Committee Chairman, was heard speaking to his father and then to two others, asking them to go ahead with the “four to five” works he had approved.

The Opposition, especially JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy claimed the conversation was about “transfer business”, referring to his old claim that money was changing hands to approve transfer of officials.

Siddaramaiah said it was about development of schools using Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds.

JD(S) joins hands with BJP

After months of speculation, JD(S) announced an alliance with the BJP on September 22.

Kumaraswamy had famously tied up with the saffron party back in 2006 for his maiden chief ministerial term. Back then, his father and JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda had opposed it.

However, the former prime minister is on board with the pre-poll coalition for the Lok Sabha elections. A multitude of JD(S) MLAs had warned they’d lose their Muslim voters if the alliance was formalized but the party high command went ahead with it after initial doubts.

While JD(S) seeks to survive an existential crisis, the BJP wants to capture Old Mysuru’s Vokkaliga vote, a section of which is still with the regional outfit.