The tactic to become a king-maker in Karnataka

The tactic to become a king-maker in Karnataka
New Indian Express

Divide and rule. The British used the wily tactic effectively to remain in power in India. Now it is Janata Dal (S) chief Deve Gowda who is taking a leaf from the British strategic blue book to tower over his rivals and remain in power and be an undisputable kingmaker in Karnataka.

First he divided the Congress into pro-Krishna and anti-Krishna groups. The former chief minister and the present Governor of Maharashtra S M Krishna belongs to the same Vokkaliga community as Gowda.

So the community had to be divided. And the ploy was clever: have a Chief Minister who is accommodative, non-controversial and just the opposite of the urban image that Krishna had so assiduously built up during his tenure as CM.

Known for its groupism, Gowda got the pro-Krishna group cornered and made them go without power.

After dividing the Congress, Gowda started widening the split within the party's ranks by crowning the anti-Krishna faction with power and lavishing praise.

While he is all praise for Chief Minister Dharam Singh, a former CM from the same party gets a mouthful.

And the Congress can do precious little except glee at the praise and gulp the insults.

After dividing the Congress, the JD(S) chief found that his own party was getting stronger than him.

So the party had to be split. Siddaramaiah and the anti-Gowda faction were shown the door and the JD(S) was made synonymous with Gowda.

The next move was to consolidate the vote bank, especially since Siddaramaiah was garnering support from his numerically strong Kuruba community.

For this a bigger wedge had to be driven between the rural and urban mind space.

The rural sector gets all the praise from the humble farmer because these are the people who care to vote.

They provide the horsepower for politicians, not the so-called new India elite, IT coders or Brand Bangalore.

When it comes to the ballot box, any one seen in love with IT sector would stand no chance.

Gowda knows that and Krishna and Chandrababu Naidu are examples of the wooing-IT-and-losing-poll ballot strategy.

So why not do some IT-bashing? It is another matter that IT and Brand Bangalore generate jobs, wealth and fame for rural Karnataka.

So if you kill Brand Bangalore you are in a sense going to make life miserable in rural areas too.

We seem to be going back to the pseudo-socialistic era -- to spread happiness, make everyone poor.

Back to the division game where one can multiply gains. After the Congress and the mindscape, the next pie that got Gowda's attention was the IT sector.

If the IT sector was generating so many jobs, why not earmark, rather reserve, some for locals.

So here it is a division between localites and non-localites. But the bigger pie was the IT sector itself.

Here the division had to be at two levels. First pitch the IT sector against the non-IT sectors by throwing up a few questions.

Why should the IT sector alone be given a special treatment? Why should roads and infrastructure be built only for the IT segments?

Why should a good road be built only from the airport to the electronic city?

Why not from the railway station to traditional hotspot in Bangalore? The IT sector got its message: If you enjoy a tax holiday, you jolly-well keep quiet.

Tax money had to be spent all over Karnataka, not Bangalore alone or the Airport Road.

Along with this came the very division of Bangalore between a once-upon-a-time traditional Garden City to a global highflying, IT-savvy city.

So, did the traditional Bangalorean not suffer because the IT sector grew too fast and jacked up everything - from prices of real estate to commodities and from cost of living to major lifestyle changes?

But the biggest and risky move came when Gowda knitted his brows on Infosys.

It is well known that not all in the IT sector love Infosys or Narayana Murthy.

Smelling an opportunity here, Gowda just stepped in and played his cards. Just read his statement on what Infosys got versus others and what Infosys contributed versus the contribution of other IT giants.

Not many IT honchos have pitched in to support Narayana Murthy or decry Gowda.

And the dossier built by the former PM against Infosys is huge and uncomfortable in many places, especially when it comes to land deals.

In this divide and rule game, it would be the Congress that will suffer. Bangalore may not because the City has grown to its full potential and the next phase, as in nature, would be a de-acceleration.

In a theory in astronomy, the universe would not expand for ever, only to a point; from then on it will come back to its original form before another expansion. This will happen to Bangalore too.

Should Krishna not quit and fight?

For over a fortnight, former chief minister Krishna has been at the receiving end and not able to fight back Gowda.

Instead of a shadow boxing match, is it not time to quit the Governor's post and take to hard politics?

Krishna has already alienated the high command and his base in Karnataka is getting eroded.

Instead of being asked to quit the governership, he should resign gracefully and do what his heart commands.