Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE MURDER OF DEMOCRACY CHEAPEST POLITICAL NATAKA IN KARNATAKA

BY FIROZ.T.TOTANAWALA 

 THE BANGALORE METRO REPORTER 

 THE MURDER OF DEMOCRACY

CHEAPEST POLITICAL NATAKA IN KARNATAKA

 The recent cabinets reshuffle by the Chief Minister despite the opposition of his senior leaders has resulted in a disaster which any one could have imagined. Mr. Yedurappa, perhaps would have thought that he is the supreme in Karnataka and boasted of having crushed dissident leaders by dismissing their loyal ministers. He was also chest filled for successfully inducting his personal favourites Shobha krandlaje and V.Somanna into the cabinet. Also by dropping the Reddy Brothers’ loyalists Goolihatti Shekhar and Shivana Gowda Nayak, he felt he had put the Reddy brothers in their place. While some reaction was due to happen, what consequently happened was the most shocking in the history of Karnataka politics. 

 THE REACTION

 Disgusted by the dirty and corrupt administration of Mr. Yedurappa, the BJP MLA’s themselves opposed the Chief Minister. The rebellion grew to more than a dozen and half MLA’s opposing the functioning of the Chief Minister. The rebelling MLA then submitted the letter to the Governor of Karnataka intimating him their Withdrawal of Support to the Chief Minister. Technically, the ruling BJP was now reduced from the majority and eventually the Governor asked Mr. Yedurappa to prove his majority on the floor of the assembly before 12th October, 2010. The Chief Minister opted for a Trust Vote on 11th October and the dirty politics took a new turn. 

 THE POLITICAL TRADING

 While the rebellion group of MLA was camped in Taj Exotica of Goa, the horse trading began. The financial backbone of Mr. Yedurappa, Mr. Janardhan Reddy of the famous Reddy brothers was given the responsibility to trade back the rebelling MLA. He visited Goa to meet and convince them back to support the Government during the Trust Vote. A lot of chaos, hungama, tamasha, goondaism, dirty politics and the rebellion were still firm on their stand except for Mr. Renukacharya, who returned and submitted his letter of support to the Governor. There were reports that the MLA’s were offered about Rs. 20 to 30 Crores to oppose the Chief Minister, while their were reports that they were also offered money to support him. The former Chief Minister Mr. HD Kumaraswamy, was squarely blamed for inciting the rebellion group through money power. Later, Mr. Kumaraswamy shifted the rebellion group from Goa to Chennai under the nose of Janardhan Reddy. 

 ERASING THE COMPETITION

 Mr. Yedurappa was working hard to save his chair under any circumstances and he was not bothered if the Democracy was required to be raped and murdered. He prepared a master plan. First he tried to win back the rebellion group by all means and when he failed, he instructed the Speaker to disqualify them all under the Anti Defection Law, so that they cannot participate in the Trust Vote enabling him to win the same. 

 SHAME SHAME! 

 Then, the black day arrived, the 11th of October, Monday. The Speaker K.G.Bopaiah on the behest of the Chief Minister disqualified the 16 MLA under the Anti Defection Law, of which 11 belonged to the BJP and remaining 5 were independents. The disqualification was done at around 5.30 in the morning and we always complaint that the Government do not work. Well, sometimes they start working as early as 5.30am. Now with effective disqualification, the strength of the assembly was reduced to 208 from 224. The Policemen were instructed not to allow the dismissed 16 rebellion MLA to enter the assembly and participate in the Trust Vote. They were held at the entrance gate when they arrived at 9am. The rebellion group became restless and forced themselves inside the assembly by breaking the doors open and overpowering the Policemen and Marshals. 

 What happened inside the assembly was a clear rape and murder of the Democracy. There was a total chaos as the rebellion group was not allowed inside and the opposition cried foul. The Speaker then hurriedly moved the Trust Vote amidst this uncontrollable chaos. He called for a Voice Vote and without actually taking the head count declared that the Chief Minister had got the majority with 106 for and none against and immediately adjourned the house Sine Die. There was absolute misuse and violation of the Constitution and machinery to win the Trust Vote. 

 BJP- DOWN DOWN! 

 The opposition and the rebellion group went berserk. There were physical abuses, assaults, damages and what not. They then rushed to the Raj Bhavan to meet the Governor and complained to him about the constitutional violation in the procedure of Trust Vote and sought the dismissal of the BJP Government. All in all 118 MLA’s paraded before the Governor opposing the Chief Minister and his party. The Governor immediately prepared a report citing the Trust Vote as a farce and submitted it to the Honourable President of India recommending immediate imposing of Presidents rule in Karnataka. 

 The BJP on the other hand celebrated the victory. Mr. Yedurappa addressed a conference and apologized to the Media for the assaults. He blamed the opposition for conspiracy to pull his Government and also blamed the Governor for trying to de-stabilize his Government. 

 POOR DEMOCRACY! 

 The entire nation or perhaps the entire world witnessed the massacre of the great Democracy by the wicked, cruel, corrupt and selfish political Netas. More disgusting is that all this happened just a few days after the Gandhi Jayanthi and so we call it the total murder of Democracy. As usual, the leaders continued their debate through various Media on who was right and who was wrong. But, the fact is that Democracy was already murdered. The Value, ethics, elegance and repute of the state of Karnataka was already raped and slit to death. What remained is the shame, which the state of Karnataka and India as a nation, will now have to live with.