Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy, Yeddyurappa, Yeshwant Sinha... these names have been doing the rounds prominently in Karnataka's political circles since the past one month, thanks to the worst political crisis that befell the state.
The Janata Dal-Secular and the Bharatiya Janata Party came together 21 months back, took everyone by surprise and formed the government in Karnataka. However, the JDS decided to ditch the BJP at the end of 20 months and said they would not transfer power.
Today, both parties have buried the hatchet, and are all set to return to power. There was mudslinging, politicking, opportunism and all other possible things that took place to the run up to the formation of the government.
In the public eye, it seemed as though leaders were talking to each other in person or through the media. In reality, leaders refused to even see eye-to-eye and utilized the services of a mediator to do all the talking. What happened behind the scenes? How did the allies mend the fences?
Rediff.com spoke to the official mediators of the JDS and the BJP to find out.
S Dore Raju, an advocate, was one of the many mediators who had to work behind the scenes to undertake the task of patching up things between the two parties.
"It was work and nothing but work all day and all night. The
netas (leaders) acted like children and on most occasions made unreasonable demands. It was a horrid experience coupled with a great deal of turmoil," Dore Raju said.
The work of the mediators began the day JDS decided not to hand over power to the BJP.
"The leaders were refusing to talk to each other. My job was to carry and convey the messages of the respective leaders of both parties. One night at the JDS camp, I was given a long list of complaints against the BJP. I had to carry this list to them who sent me back with their own list of complaints against the JDS. This went on for a couple of days and then things went out of hand. Both parties started trading charges against each other through the media, which made matters even worse."
Another mediator, who did not want to be identified, said: "There were people who were making statements despite not being authorized to do so. This only made us commence the process all over again. From Gowda's house I had to go and talk to Kumaraswamy about what the BJP thought on the formation of government and he used to send me with
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