HVK Archives: Slip out of the Old - an editorial
Slip out of the Old - an editorial - Times of India
Posted By ashok (ashokvc@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in)
10 June 1996
Title :Slip Out of the Old - an editorial
Publication : Times of India
Date : June 10, 1996
The developments in the ruling Janata Dal in Karnataka
are disturbing, and not only for it being the home ground
of the Prime Minister, Mr H. D. Deve Gowda, or his
successor, Mr J. H. Patel, Swearing in a 45-member
council of ministers which has provoked the excluded
legislators to revolt. This seqeul to the succession
struggle, which was a proxy war for overlordship of the
state between Mr Gowda and Mr Ramakrishna Hegde, is
unseemly, to say the least. The circumstances which
culminated in Mr Patel becoming chief minister left
little doubt that in its train there follow messy
problems of `political management'. In the event the
outbreak of discountentment to jolt the new ministry
within 24 hours of its being sworn in is not surprising.
The malcontents accuse Mr Patel of having an unwieldy
cabinet, and simultaneously demand enlarged
representation in the Gowda ministry. The contradiction
is evident. The disgruntled legislators may have beaten a
tactical retreat but the JD goverment is bound to be
uneasy, given its thin majority in the House and
dependence on 15 associate members for support. The issue
is whether this should become the Prime Minister's
overriding preoccupation at a time when he has larger
national priorities on his plate.
The point made earlier in these columns about the
necessity for Mr Gowda and his cabinet colleagues from
Karnataka to rise above the regional mould to national
stature befitting their new roles needs to be reiterated.
Mr Gowda should cease to see Karnataka as his backyard
from where squabbling underlings take the liberty of
dragging him into petty disputes. Mr Gowda ought to make
it clear that he is not the overseer of the JD government
in Karnataka alone. Quite apart from conserving his
energy for the onerous task of running a coalition
government at the Centre, as the leader of a federalist
formation Mr Gowda should set the tone for a new
political culture. `Airbus' ministries should be grounded
along with the `airfreighting' of problems and solutions
to and from Delhi. If the main constituent of the United
Front coalition cannot enable autonomous functioning of
its state units, it is difficult to believe that it can
alter the present skewed order of Centre-state relations.
A pre-condition for autonomous of the Central leadership.
The tasks of a legislature party should not be offloaded
on last word in the appointment of chief ministers who in
turn seek central consent to form and expand ministries
or drop ministers is a part of Congress culture which
deserves to be done away with. Given the number of
constituents in the UF, in the days to come there will be
more party conflicts in states, and if the Prime Minister
takes it on himself to become the arbiter he is certain
to get mired in more and more regional disputes much to
the detriment of his greater responsiblities.
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