Senior BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa, who is known for throwing down gauntlets at his political rivals, has done it again. In the latest challenge in the polls to the Legislative Council held on Sunday, Mr. Eshwarappa said he would withdraw from politics (take political sanyas) if the Congress bagged more seats than the BJP in the elections. The two rival parties are prime contenders for the 25 Council seats. However, his challenge has come with a rider: that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah must also accept the challenge.
“Why should I retire if Mr. Siddaramaiah does not take the challenge,” he declared recently to scribes, who wondered how serious he was about his challenge. The Chief Minister, for his part, has made light of the incident as “loose talk” and asked if anyone takes Mr. Eshwarappa’s statements seriously.
The BJP leader’s poll premise is that the party has won more seats than the Congress in the Lok Sabha and BBMP elections in spite of the ruling party’s money power. Well, has Mr. Eshwarappa called correctly? We will have to wait for the counting day.
Not enough media coverage
Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge is unhappy with the media coverage given to one of the two engagements of President Pranab Mukherjee in the State, both on the same day. The President gave the convocation address of the Central University of Karnataka in Kalaburagi city on December 22. According to Mr. Kharge, the coverage of the President’s visit to Kalaburagi was limited to regional editions while the programme at NIMHANS that day received better publicity in the Bengaluru media. “I am not criticising the media, but bringing to their notice the poor coverage of the President’s [Kalaburagi] visit in the Bengaluru press. How can people here come to know about the several good works we have done in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region?” he lamented. Several highway projects connecting the HK region to southern parts of the State are either under way or completed. “I hope people will not forget the works we done in the HK region,” Mr. Kharge remarked.
MP’s order to
State police
Can a Member of Parliament order the State police to act or not act? Can legislators assume the power of the executive, especially during the election season when the model code of conduct is in force? Bhagwant Khuba, BJP MP for Bidar, seems to think so. He issued a press note alleging that some police personnel were campaigning for Congress candidate Vijay Singh, son for the former Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh, for the elections to the Legislative Council.
“People told me that a few policemen and a few Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) are asking gram panchayat members to vote for the Congress. Surely, police and PDOs know very well that it is against the rules. Anyway, this is to let them know that I will find the officers doing this and will lodge complaint against them. I urge voters to vote without fear or favour. I, hereby, order the police to ensure that no harm comes to the members of these local bodies,” Mr. Khuba’s press note said.
It is not known whether his staff, who typed the letter, mistook the Kannada word for ‘request’ (manavi) for ‘order’ (adesha). It is safe to assume, however, that the letter was shown to him before being released to the media. The Returning Officer’s office said it would react to the only if any candidate or party raised a question on its propriety.
Rebel help for Shetty?
While majority of the Congress grassroots supporters admit that the choice of K. Pratapchandra Shetty to represent dual member Dakshina Kannada-Udupi constituency in the Legislative Council for the third term was unacceptable, the presence of two rebel candidates appears to have brightened the chances of the incumbent MLC. Had there been only one rebel candidate, K. Harikrishna Bantwal or K. Jayaprakash Hegde, Mr. Shetty would have faced stiff resistance, feel political observers. While Mr. Hegde is popular in Udupi district, Mr. Bantwal, a staunch follower of B. Janardhan Poojary, is a known face in Dakshina Kannada. Besides, Mr. Bantwal is known through Billava community associations.
The initial rhetoric of Mr. Hegde and Mr. Bantwal indicated that they were contesting to become the voice of the grassroots and one of them would retire if either of them is given party ticket, faded after Mr. Shetty’s candidature was finalised.
Mr. Shetty, at the commencement of his second term, appeared to have decided to not contest again and did not visit any gram panchayat in Dakshina Kannada, claim Congress members. In November, he wrote to his electorate thanking them for their cooperation and reiterating his desire not to contest again. Only after this, Mr. Hegde and Mr. Bantwal expressed their desire to contest.
Nagesh Prabhu,
Rishikesh Bahadur Desai, and
Anil Kumar Sastry
