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Homely Discomforts - The Times of India

Editorial ()
13 February 1997

Title : Homely Discomforts
Author : Editorial
Publication : The Times of India
Date : February 13, 1997

A setback to his image in his home state was about the last thing
Prime Minister Deve Gowda needed at this stage. Indeed, the defeat
of the Janata Dal in the byelections to two assembly and one
council constituencies from Karnataka is more than a mere statement
on the health of the state unit of the party as the Prime
Minister's prestige was attached to the verdict. The loss of
Ramanagaram, the seat he held before shifting to the Centre, must
particularly hurt Mr Gowda. To add insult to injury, a rebel Dal
candidate has won the second assembly seat, Chikkanayakanahalli,
while the BJP has, grabbed the legislative council seat. The best
that the Dal leadership can do now, is to spur the dissidence and
caste riven state unit into some immediate damage control activity.
In fact, the Congress suffered a humiliating defeat in the 1994
assembly elections for the very same reasons. Dal workers know only
too well that they rode back to power on an anti-Congress vote. Yet
they failed to see the writing on the wall. Mr Gowda must act at
once if the results are not to translate into further erosion of
support for the party. For a start he could ask his two ambitious
sons, Kumaraswamy and Revanna, to exercise restraint. They ran the
Ramanagaram campaign like a family business, selecting a rank
outsider, film actor Ambarish, for what was evidently a tough
contest. Not surprisingly, senior leaders who should have been in
charge were reduced to mere spectators. Mr Gowda should also make
sure that party legislators show interest in their constituencies.
The main grouse of the people of Ramanagaram was that after his
election Mr Gowda ignored the constituency, concentrating instead
on his home district, Hassan.

The Prime Minister could also put some order into the state unit,
which has been speaking in many voices. Chief minister Patel
especially should be advised to pull up his socks and address the
genuine problems of the people like acute power and drinking water
shortage and poor infrastructural facilities. Otherwise, for the
Janata Dal in Karnataka the debacle could well serve as a countdown
to its demise. For the Congress in the state, the victory in
Ramanagaram is certainly a morale booster. There cannot be a
better comeback vehicle for it than the victory in the Prime
Minister's constituency. But its defeat in the other two
constituencies shows it has still to come out of the woods.
Congressmen must send a message to the people that they will remain
united, shun factionalism and will not repeat past mistakes the
factors that caused their downfall in 1994. The BJP, which once
thought of making Karnataka its base in the south, has settled for
a bronze, winning the South Graduates Council seat. Clearly, the
party has not recovered from the loss of its Hubli plank to the
Janata Dal. On internal party matters, too, it has proved to be no
better than the Janata Dal, indiscipline and ego conflicts plaguing
its ranks in much the same way as in other parties. The Congress
also took away its principal opposition status. There is need for
introspection in all three Parties, but especially so in the Janata
Dal.



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