BENGALURU: He first said midterm polls were imminent given the political scenario in Karnataka and quickly backtracked and claimed that his statements were twisted but JDS Supremo HD Deve Gowda’s statement on Friday was no Freudian slip.
Dynamics of the Congress-JDS coalition has changed post the Lok Sabha elections and Deve Gowda’s outburst was a defensive move in the game of complex coalition chess while the Congress is on an offensive stride.
With murmurs of Congress reconsidering the coalition are said to be aimed at rattling the JDS, Gowda seems to have pulled the right strings to convey to the Congress that he is seeing through the gameplan.
“It is now clear that Congress might pull out of the coalition and Gowda wants to make it look like he is making the first move. Either party cannot survive if they keep eating into each others’ cadre,” said Prof Narendar Pani, Political analyst. Leaders, both from the Congress and the JDS, seem to agree with Prof Pani that while those in the government want the coalition to continue, those outside, like Legislative party leader Siddaramaiah want it gone simply because they see that it isn’t helping either party.
“Someone like Siddaramaiah has been seen as consistently taking the stance that this coalition won’t work. The results of parliament elections have proven that it is hurting the Congress. There is no reason for them to continue,” he added.
The elections have shown Congress and the JDS that neither has the coalition gathered more vote share nor has it ensured the transfer of votes.
The worrying part, however, for both parties is cadres- unwilling to work with each other- looking to jump base to BJP, wrecking the grassroots level structure of Congress and JDS. Gowda’s outburst on Friday, people within the coalition believe, was not just a lament about losing from the Tumakuru seat but a message to a more assertive Congress that JDS cannot be ignored or neglected.