Bsy takes guard

Bsy takes guard

Yediyurappa government will hope for smooth sailing, until the 17 bypolls are held.

BJP’s victory in the Karnataka floor test paves the way for BS Yediyurappa’s fourth term as chief minister, which he will hope won’t be as troubled as his earlier stints. While stepping down before the trust vote last year after just three days on the hot seat, Yediyurappa had vowed to make a comeback. In that sense he will feel vindicated that BJP – being the single largest party within touching distance of the halfway mark in the house – has regained the reins of power. Yet he will have to be mindful that the result was achieved by the house strength coming down from 225 to 208 after the defection of 17 Congress and JD(S) rebels, making BJP’s present majority in the house a notional one at best.

However, the messy disqualification of the 17 rebels by Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, who also stepped down from his post on Monday, may give Yediyurappa a longer rope. The rebels, whose political careers are now in jeopardy, have sufficient ground to contest Kumar’s ruling disqualifying them for the remainder of the assembly’s tenure. This can lead to prolonged litigation and Yediyurappa may not mind the resulting delay in holding bypolls. Recall that in a similar precedent in Tamil Nadu, the Speaker disqualified 18 AIADMK rebels in September 2017 but the bypolls were held nearly 19 months later in April 2019.

A long delay could suit Yediyurappa twofold: He won’t have to worry about earmarking a lion’s share of Cabinet berths for the defectors, which in turn would have caused heartburn among senior BJP MLAs. Second, he only needs to retain the present majority to keep his government afloat. However, Congress, unlike the AIADMK faction led by TTV Dhinakaran, could press their top legal eagles into action demanding quick settlement of the legal wrangling and for speedy conduct of the bypolls.

Yediyurappa can take heart that the BJP central leadership has gone along with his plans to oust HD Kumaraswamy and stake claim to form a new government. Unlike the Congress-JD(S) ministry which was bogged down by multiple power centres, Yediyurappa will be in a better position to govern, not having to worry about dissidence for the time being. A hung assembly will offer him little comfort but this could be the veteran’s last opportunity to leave a mark on Karnataka.