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Will the "Reddys" unsteady Yeddy?
Hindsight is always 20/20 vision, but it feels nice to know that this paper shares the same wavelength with the electorate of Karnataka. We had strongly advocated for a single party rule and the BJP seemed to be the best alternative given the choices. The people have voted for lotus on their feet, and though it fell short of the magical number by 3 seats, it has managed to woo over six independents to its side. BS Yeddyurappa has created history by ushering the first ever BJP government in the south. The first dawn of victory is always sunny, but if the party does not get into governance mode quickly, it will be as quickly relegated to the dustbin of history.
A curious thing about the BJP coming to power is the fact that it generally does not have the benefit of a honeymoon, unlike other parties. This is so, largely because it has to constantly wage a battle on two fronts - the opposition, as well as the mainstream media. The situation gets more complex with people's ever rising expectations.
Political pundits never tire of telling us that the voter is cynical, but the fact is otherwise. A cynical voter does not expect much from any government. Whereas nowadays, the Indian voter has cultivated a reputation of being a giant killer, every time there is an election. Forget punishing the politicians for non-performance, even governments with a decent record of governance are shown the door. To cite a few examples, who expected the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu to be so unceremoniously thrown out, despite the fact that Jayalalithaa had performed quite decently. Did anyone expect SM Krishna, the darling of the IT industry, to lose in Karnataka? So it is safe to say that there is a method in the madness of the electorate.
Now that Yeddy & co are ready, will the government be stable and steady? All eyes are on Yeddy whose finger is on the infrastructure button, but danger lurks very close to him. The BJP that finds itself in power in Karnataka is today not the BJP of old. The Reddy group may well play spoiler to Yeddy, and where will the BJP be? A large number of BJP sympathizers fear that the Reddys will bring in what they describe as the 'Andhra culture' and Karnataka may become a Cuddapah. These fears are not unfounded. How the new CM is going to tackle this potential threat from within will be the first challenge before him. If he can overcome the pressure from this powerful and cash rich lobby, he would have crossed the first frontier.
In the interim, here's a wish list the CM should take up immediately:
* Pending flyover works: The CM should make a spot inspection of places like Ramamurthynagar, Mahadevapura, KR Puram, Sunkadakatte, Marthahalli and Sarjapur Road. Localities with poor streetlights and lack of good roads should be the priority area number one.
* Increase the number of class rooms in government schools and scale up the facilities in these schools so that they are comparable with private schools.
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