BENGALURU: In 2010, the Congress, led by now legislature party chief Siddaramaiah, laid the foundation for its strong comeback in Karnataka with a historic 320-kilometre padayatra lasting 16 days to Ballari.
Claiming to take on illegal mining, accusing the then government of a nexus with the mining mafia, leaders of the Congress stormed the mining bastion taking the infamous Reddy brothers and their coterie head on. Nine years down the line, a land deal in the very same district has split the party into two. The JDS-Congress coalition cabinet’s decision to sell 3,667 acres to steel manufacturing giant JSW has met with opposition not just from the BJP but also tall leaders of the Congress.
For the party that is already stretched between recovering from the parliamentary polls drubbing and ensuring the stability of the coalition government in Karnataka, handling internal disagreements over the deal is proving to be a more herculean task than responding to the BJP, especially when the lease-cum-sale deal was agreed upon during the BJP-JDS coalition government.
The cabinet decided to stall the sale of land and constitute a sub-committee to review the deal but the BJP nonetheless carried out a three-day sit-in protest that ended in laying siege to the Chief Minister’s home office.
The first vehement opposition to the sale of land to JSW, however, came not from the BJP but much to the Congress’ embarrassment, from its own senior leader HK Patil. Patil publicly chided the coalition for deciding to sell land at throwaway prices to JSW - a firm that he claimed was a defaulter for not paying dues of more than Rs 1,200 crore to Mysore minerals ltd.
Several rounds of talks by Congress leaders- those in the government and outside- with HK Patil were futile. Soon the likes of Anand Singh and Anil Lad joined the chorus making it apparent that the internal opposition within the Congress was here to stay. “When the government is making a mistake it should be criticised and questioned. These decisions are not taken in the CLP or within the party. We have to protect the image of the party and not allow a bad name to the party,” HK Patil told The New Indian Express.
A section of Congress leaders believe that the deal is a mockery of everything the party claimed to stand for when they launched the 2010 Ballari Padayatra. “The agreement was arrived at when Kumaraswamy was Chief Minister the last time in coalition with the BJP. We had opposed it then as well. Now we are JDS’ coalition partners and Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister is once again pushing for the deal. It reflects badly on the party to let it happen now,” pointed a Congress leader. Having one section back the deal- mostly those part of the government- lets Congress play its part as the good coalition partner while having a section oppose the deal- mostly those who aren’t part of the government- lets the party stamp its individuality.
Given the change in dynamics and power play between coalition partners post the Lok Sabha results, the Congress is looking to assert its individuality and the internal opposition to the land deal is just another aspect, according to party insiders. Analysts believe that this is a process of Congress evaluating its options. “Congress has the need to emerge as the main opposition to this government. They will have to be at the forefront of such issues. If they need to pull the plug, they will have to distance themselves from some of the decisions taken by the coalition,” said Prof Narendar Pani, political analyst and commentator.
False and misleading: JSW on steel Stir
in the face of opposition to the sale of land to JSW, the company has maintained that the information being spread on the aggrement is false. In a statement, JSW Group said, “The said land was leased to JSW Steel for expansion of its steel plant capacity at Vijayanagar and the leasehold land shall become a freehold land as per the terms of the original lease on expiry of a specific period of the lease. The information that is being spread is false and misleading.”