A Congress government headed for doom

Failure to deliver on governance, corruption allegations, preoccupation with Lok Sabha and gram panchayat polls and factionalism have weakened Siddaramaiah's government in Karnataka. This may well hand the BJP a chance to make a comeback in the state, says Raghu Krishnan.

Thirteen Congress legislators from Bengaluru, five of whom are ministers in Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's Cabinet; full Congress control of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, the city's corporation... and yet, when thousands of poorly paid garment workers hit the streets in Bengaluru last week protesting the Centre's new employment provident fund norms, Siddaramaiah's government was caught unawares.

Only after protesters turned violent on the second day did the government wake up, but it was too late.

The National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre had begun dousing the fire -- amending the PF norms that held back the money of such workers till 58, and finally, withdrawing the move.

This week's episode widened the growing gap between promise and delivery of governance by the Congress government in the last three years.

The electorate voted Siddaramaiah, a backward class leader, to power on the promise of good governance.

The previous Bharatiya Janata Party regime was riddled with corruption that forced its chief minister, B S Yeddyurappa, to quit after the Lokayukta named him for illegally denotifiying land in state capital Bengaluru.

Yeddyurappa, who has been named the state BJP chief to lead the party in the next assembly elections in 2018, was discharged by the Karnataka high court on technical grounds.

"This government is an absolute failure," says Rajeev Chandrasekhar, an independent member from Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha.

"It has had zero impact on governance in the last three years. There is enough empirical evidence that none of the promises made by Siddaramaiah and his party members has been implemented."

Siddaramaiah, a leader who was hand-picked by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, has got entangled in scandals.

He had to hand over an expensive, diamond-studded Hublot watch that he had worn to the state treasury after the Opposition accused him of corruption.

Controversy has dogged his family members too.

A juicy tender was bagged by Matrix Imaging Solutions Limited -- a company where Yathindra Siddaramaiah, the chief minister's son, is a director -- to set up a pathology laboratory in a government-owned super-speciality hospital. Then, land worth Rs 150 crore in Bengaluru was allocated to a firm owned by his son's friend in contravention of the rules.

Factionalism continues in the state, with Siddaramaiah almost becoming isolated and unable to rein in senior ministers such as D K Shiva Kumar, K J George and G Parameshwar as well as failing to remove non-performers such as Shamanur Shivashankarappa and Ambareesh to make way for younger leaders. Siddaramaiah has been putting off a Cabinet reshuffle, in the works for over a year.

Infrastructure woes continue in Bengaluru, the capital city that generates nearly 70 per cent of the state's revenues.

Karnataka is the only state in south India to have power outages: the state has failed to sign agreements to buy power to meet its needs.

The performance on tackling drought, which has hit 136 of the 174 taluks in the state, has been abysmal.

Weakening powers of the Lok Ayukta -- an institution that Karnataka built and which was hailed across the country -- has led to discontent in civic society.

"It is almost laissez faire. The CM has institutionalised corruption and every MLA and minister is on his own," says Chandrasekhar.

Since the 1980s, Karnataka has never returned a ruling party to power, with incumbent governments losing out due to non-performance. With the current government's performance, this record is likely to continue.

State leaders admit that there have been governance lapses, but they have blamed it on a preoccupation with elections -- from Lok Sabha to gram panchayats.

"In the last three years, there were irritants -- various elections. Now that is over and we have full two years to showcase our performance," says Dinesh Gundu Rao, a senior minister in Siddaramaiah's Cabinet.

The lacklustre performance of the government is an opportunity for the BJP, which is trying to make a comeback in the state.

By naming Yeddyurappa, a Lingayat and mass leader who has Prime Minister Narendra Modi's backing, as state party chief, it is beginning to beat the war drums two years ahead of the elections.

Among the first to respond to agitators in the Bengaluru violence, which prompted the Centre to withdraw the PF note, was Union minister and BJP Lok Sabha member from the city Ananth Kumar. Both Kumar and Yeddyurappa, otherwise arch rivals in the party, were reaching out to the protesters saying they would address the workers' needs, even as the government was scrambling to be on top of the situation.

"It is clear to the BJP. They are looking at the 2018 elections; they see an opportunity because of the failure of the Congress," says Chandrasekhar.

"Yeddyurappa is a strong leader and vote-catcher. It is a political calculation by the BJP to lead the party in the next elections."

Image: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Photograph: File Photo / PTI Photo