Different stroke:time means nothing in politics

Different stroke:time means nothing in politics

New Delhi,July 10(HS)Does time matter?It does, in business and industry.If a project worth hundreds of crores of rupees is delayed  it will cost to the investor much.There will be huge cost overrun if it is delayed by a week or fortnight.It may take a longer time to reach the break-even stage.

However,in politics,time means nothing.Karnataka Congress legislators took more than a year to come to the  conclusion that partnership with the Janata Dal (secular) or JDS was a wrong decision.Members of the JDS in the Vidhan Soudha took an equal number of weeks to find that H D Kumaraswamy (chief minister) is not a good leader and that they should go with another.

There is a penalty clause in some  turn-key projects.If they are delayed,the construction agency has to pay a fine for the delay.Builders also overcharge if there is delay in payment by home buyers.But no harm is done if a government work is delayed because of differences between the coalition partners.Delay has been caused because of this in other states in the past and Karnataka could not be  an exception.

Much attention,however, has not been paid to this.Not many have cared,it seems.For,none involved is showing any hurry.Those who have resigned ( 14 at the last count,11 from the Congress and three from the JDS)have made themselves comfortable in a hotel.People they represent must be out of their minds at the moment because their immediate concern is whether or not Speaker Ramesh Kumar will accept their resignation.

State chief minister H D Kumaraswamy is busy mending his fences.All ministers have resigned.Government work could have come to a virtual halt.But it has mattered little to most.

The issue is unlikely to be  settled at least before a week (unless the SC which has been approached today, intervenes) because the  Speaker will meet each one of them individually and will have to satisfy himself that they have resigned voluntarily and not because of any pressure.Could it not be done in a day or two,giving more than an hour to each one of them?The answer is both yes and No.Yes by the BJP leaders who are holding dharna protesting against “murder of democracy”. The Congress is also calling the happenings in Karnataka a murder,making one wonder how a murder can be committed twice.One of them  is certainly flogging the dead.

A debate is also on on another question.Does their resignation come under the anti-defection law( tenth schedule of the constitutions)?Legal eagles are divided on the issue.To one section,it does not because they have not resigned from the party;they have only resigned from the Assembly.

As far as the “murdering  of democracy” is concerned, the coalition partners are to be blamed  first.The Congress had stitched no alliance with the JDS before the Assembly elections.The JDS had fought bitterly against the party.Secondly,the JDS was a junior partner.Still,the Congress agreed to its demand to head the coalition government.Was it holy? Was it  not against the spirit of the Constitution and democracy?To many including some who are not BJP supporters,it was.
HS/RN