PALINI R. SWAMY writes from Bangalore: Hunting for a scapegoat is India’s national pastime. And as the chief ministerial ambitions of B.S. Yediyurappa get cruelly chopped off by the devious designs of Deve Gowda & Sons (and daughters-in-law), every side can find plenty of pigs to explain the denouement.
The BJP can take the high moral ground and again call it “the worst betrayal ever”, ignoring its patent desperation to sleep with a promiscuous partner. The JDS can take the only road available before it—the low one—and say all it wanted was an pre-nuptial agreement on stamp paper, probably given its own sterling record of sticking to promises.
The Congress can take the middle road, rubbing its hands in glee at the “communal forces” being stumped, not once but twice, and hope that somehow something will happen that will give it get another shot at power. And the astrologers, who were proved wrong just a week ago, can claim that it was all an astral aberration.
But a good exercise at this juncture is to inspect “the foreign hand”.
For over two decades now, “the foreign hand” has been political shorthand for Pakistan. An inheritance of the Indira Gandhi era, it has been used to explain everything that went wrong in the country.
A bomb explosion, a stock market implosion, an assassination, trouble in Kashmir and Punjab, everything was traced back to the “foreign hand” of Pakistan and its ISI, although even after five years Lal Krishna Advani could not quite come to deliver the “white paper” he promised.
The nausea-inducing politics of Karnataka gives us a chance to ponder a real and more tangible foreign hand: that of the People’s Republic of China.
Think about it: Beijing through Bellary.
Bellary with its rich iron ore deposits has become a goldmine that no political party wants to take its hands off. In 2005 alone, the mine owners are said to have made profits of Rs 3,100 crore. Illegal mining is said to have cost the State Rs 25,000 crore in lost revenues.
Excavators dig through hills and hillocks, day and night, as if there were no tomorrow. And the famous high-quality ore (65%+ Fe content), trucked to and exported from Mangalore, have made millionaires out of many, some of them politicians with helipads in their homes to ferry kids to school.
The BJP first tapped Bellary’s value when Sonia Gandhi stood for elections from there in 1999 and Sushma Swaraj took her on. And there has been no looking back since.
# Real estate prices have zoomed 400 per cent in three years.
# Bank withdrawals in Hospet’s SBI have shot up from Rs 3 crore every six months to Rs 40 crore per week.
# Local press reports say Bellary will soon have Asia’s highest per capita concentration of private helicopters.
But it is the lasting imprint that the easy lucre of Bellary’s ores have left on Karnataka’s soil on their way to China in the last couple of years that is truly mind-boggling.
The first stone against H.D. Kumarawamy—the Rs 150 crore bribery charges—was thrown by G. Janardhan Reddy, who owns the Obalapuram Mining Corporation. Reddy’s brother N. Karunakar Reddy is the BJP MP from Bellary.
The currency notes counted on camera by inspector-turned-minister C. Chennigappa were earned by the sweat and toil of the mine workers. HDK’s political secretary was M.P. Suryanarayana Reddy, one of Bellary’s biggest miners and an MLA.
D.K. Shiva Kumar, with mining interests in Kanakapura himself, established through documents how the humble farmer’s family had attained mining interests in Bellary. M.P. Prakash, who made a minor bid to form a government, is also from the area, with his son M.P. Ravindra a go-between miners despite the father’s protestations.
JDS legislator Santosh Lad, who owns V.S. Lad & Co and was instrumental in installing Kumaraswamy was—no surprise, no surprise—a major player in the failed attempt to install Prakash as CM with the Congress’ support. And his cousin Anil Lad is with the BJP.
And finally, B. Sriramulu. The minister who filed a criminal complaint against Kumaraswamy is from Bellary with his own mining interests and is close to the Reddy brothers. The JDS is opposed to his inclusion in the Yediyurappa government, and it is the very renumerative mines and geology portfolio that the JDS wants.
No wonder the first action of the BJP after the Kumaraswamy government fell was to revoke Janardhan Reddy’s suspension from the party. No wonder the JDS wants the mining portfolio. No wonder BJP doesn’t want to let go.
It takes no genius to see that greed and avarice have become the leit motif of our parties and politicians. But who would have guessed that China’s insatiable thirst for steel could be fuelling it in a small corner of the globe, altering the political landscape—and political integrity—of the region, possibly for all time to come?
Also read: Mining frenzy
DG is a crook so are his sons, does anybody have email of DG and his sons, i want purchase land in bangalore to build a house
Apparently, and very reliable sources close to the mine owners confirm this, they are frightened by Deve Gowda’s brinkmanship and want some sort of “stable” government to continue in the state so that their plunder can continue unabated and unchecked.
While they are happy with their hands on both sides’ necks, repeated expenditure on elections is not exactly the way they want to spend their wealth.
this for you DG and your clan
“The wretch,
concentered all in self…
Living,
shall forfeit fair renown…
And, doubly dying,
shall go down…
To the vile dust,
from whence he sprung….
Unwept, unhonor’d, and unsung. “
good piece of information by mr.swamy. some section of bjp high command have been bribed by mine mafia hailing from bellary. huuuuge amounts have exchanged hands. they wanted this govt to go,as they were scared of devegowda packing them off.
bjp have to blame themselves for this rubbish.
devegowda was right in asking for a written undertaking for smooth functioning of coalition. he has shown who calls the shots in karnataka politics. bjp has been completely exposed.
I am ashamed to have my surname with my name now!
even school kids will use the word gowda as a synonym for treachery and backstabbing…
shame on DG
swearing-in ceremony of yediyurappa, on the main podium were bjp CM’s of other states ,advani etc. leader of the coalition partner party and former CM of this state was made to sit amongst common people–this was a insult. the show really scared people as it was promoted as a RSS function , what was going on…
All The King’s Castles
SUGATA SRINIVASARAJU, Oct 15, 2007 Outlook.
Why is the father-son duo of H.D. Deve Gowda and H.D. Kumaraswamy so fickle about transferring power to the BJP in Karnataka? It may seem that chief minister Kumaraswamy is reneging on the public promise he made twenty months ago as he has got too used to his chair. And the love for his son may have blinded former PM Deve Gowda. However, there are some real issues that weigh over and above the love for the chair and love for the son. Issues that in the long run could ruin Kumaraswamy’s political career. The father-son duo urgently want these resolved. But the BJP has so far shown little inclination to address them.
What are these concerns? By Deve Gowda’s own admission to Outlook, there are three cases filed by the powerful Bellary BJP lobby in which Kumaraswamy is the main accused. The first pertains to the Rs 150 crore bribe that Kumaraswamy allegedly collected from the mining lobby. BJP legislator Janardhana Reddy is behind this allegation and the matter is before the Supreme Court. The second case also relates to corruption charges, again filed by Reddy. The third and the most recent is an FIR filed by Sriramulu, a BJP minister and protege of Reddy, who resigned a week ago. He slapped a murder case against the CM.
All of last week, Deve Gowda dropped broad hints to the BJP that at the very least, the more damaging first and third cases be withdrawn. But all that the BJP has done so far is to suspend Reddy and ask Sriramulu to resign from the cabinet. But no commitment has been given that the cases will be dropped. Also, neither the suspension nor the resignation has altered the status of the duo, who along with Reddy’s elder brother and Bellary MP, Karunakara Reddy, are considered the moneybags of the state BJP. They continue to wield considerable clout in the party. They are close associates of the BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, who contested the Lok Sabha polls from Bellary against Sonia Gandhi in ’99.
Being a shrewd politician, Gowda knows that if the two cases are not immediately dropped, they are likely to become a noose around his son’s political career. Sample what Gowda told Outlook on September 27, when he returned in a huff from Delhi after cancelling a meeting with BJP president, Rajnath Singh. The provocation for his abrupt return was the murder charge Sriramulu had pressed the previous day. Said Gowda: “Janardhana Reddy, Sriramulu and Karunakara Reddy are referred to as Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara within the state BJP. They have a say in all major decisions. Now that all the cases against Kumaraswamy are from the Bellary stable, the BJP should take some action…. They have made my son the main accused in all the cases. I am willing to talk to the senior leaders of the BJP only after a congenial atmosphere is restored.”
Gowda also brandished a letter that Karunakara Reddy had written to the Election Commission against the JD(S)’s misuse of official machinery during the recent local body election in Bellary. He said the BJP state president and secretary general had endorsed the charges. The point he was making was that the BJP was behaving like a rival, not an ally and this was vitiating the atmosphere.
But even as Deve Gowda made this point, he seemed to be in no mood to declare an all-out war against the BJP. Sources close to him say he is keeping his anger in check, at least till he resolves the current crisis. Which is why even now he has words of praise for the BJP: “There are tall leaders within the BJP at the national level. If they are able to contain their infighting, then Ram Setu can become a plank for the NDA in the next general election,” he says.
Kumaraswamy, on his part, says he can’t transfer power without his father’s consent.It is believed that the murder charge against him has thrown him into his wily father’s lap. “I am willing to step down as CM, but I can’t ensure transfer of power. Twenty months ago, the agreement was between two individuals, now it is between two parties. In Kashmir, PDP did not transfer power to the Congress immediately, so why this hurry,” is his logic.
Yashwant Sinha with Karnataka BJP leaders
Even as the Bellary cases play heavily on Gowda and his CM-son’s mind, there is also the Kheny factor. Ashok Kheny is the MD of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), a company implementing the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project. Ever since the JD(S) got into the coalition in ’04, the Gowda family has wanted the project taken away from NICE. The JD(S) ordered a probe, went to the high court and Supreme Court, but when it became legally binding on the state government to implement the project, it even considered passing a Bill to take over the project from NICE. The BJP was clearly opposed to this and according to Gowda, on one occasion BJP ministers boycotted a cabinet meeting for hours until Kumaraswamy decided to drop the idea of the takeover bill. The Gowdas assume that Kheny is close to the BJP. Observers say the BJP’s affinity, among other reasons, is because Kheny is a Lingayat from North Karnataka. Dy CM B.S. Yediyurappa, the man the BJP wants to replace Kumaraswamy, also belongs to the community.
Clearly, these are some of the real reasons coming in the way of the transfer of power. It is also for these reasons that Gowda has been exploring a tie-up with the Congress and waited all of last week for Sonia Gandhi to return from the US.
But any truck with the JD(S) could be suicidal for the Congress. The recent poll results of the urban local bodies offers an insight: JD(S) has made huge gains—from 415 seats in ’01, it now has 1,502. The BJP too has doubled its tally from 562 to 1,180, while the Congress has slipped from 2,322 to 1,606 seats. It’s widely believed that the growth of the JD(S) has been at the cost of the Congress. So will Sonia Gandhi like to take the risk?
No one is sure about Gowda’s next move. But those close to him say whatever he does “will be for the good of the people of Karnataka.” Or, should that read the best interests of his son?
Dr. Ramesh,
Why bother with all these “Kaagakkan Goobakkan Kathe” Dirty Devegowda did not have the balls to stand up to his Son Revanna dna D-i-L Bhavani:)
Let’s watch the fun. DDG will soon be climbing the “Bidhiru Motor” courtesy Congress:) Heh heh…
ERGTV
Take it easy, Sir! Everybody knows that it is only Devegowda who is dirty! Vokkaligas are a honorable and decent folk.
popcorn time :) DB, G3S, TS, ‘runa urs, et al.. bring it on. :)
In retrospect,Dr. says that DG would expose everything about mining. Good. Who had prevented him from doing so…he was the chief minister of Karnataka, was the Prime minister of India etc etc. Or, mining was started in Bellary only recently. Fight the charges of corruption, bribe in the lawful way. Now with the fall of the Karnataka Government 9 after Yediyurappa resigned) one can look back with open eyes. Expecting to put signatures on bond papers is most shameful. Are we living in a Democracy? Even the worse autocratic ruler wouldn’t think of such a thing. Probably Dr. should be reminded about a news item about the recent Congress meeting where out future Prime Minister and his mother addressed the party workers,that the former Dy. CM of Karnataka who joined the party was made to sit in the galleries of the stadium. Shall we call this a footrug-treatment for our hon’ble Dy. CM 9of course, former)
Abba. I was waiting all day for either the papers or TV channels to discuss why they are fighting over the Mining portfolio. Congrats to Churumuri for bringing it up.
I am not so worried about “loss of revenue” to the Govt. as much as the nepotism that’s happening. These politicians want power so that they and their friends can grab the mines. This also leads to corruption and terrible lobbying as we are seeing now. In an open market the money made from those mines would quickly circulate within the local economy and benefit everyone.
Now can someone write about the more obvious one: The Urban development portfolio? :)
yeah, the words china (read ‘commies’), ‘deve gowda’, ‘sonia gandhi’ must be stirring up our cheddi baaysu real good…
baas
Check out the games china has played on us. including conducting real tests on pakistan’s behalf and i am not even talking about the games they have played in the rest of the country.
DECEPTION: Pakistan, the United States and the Global Nuclear Weapons Conspiracy
http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2007/10/deception-pakistan-united-states-and.html
adrian levy talks about it here,
http://frontlineclub.com/club_videoevents.php?event=1004
Why blame just DG (although his shamelessness knows no bounds)?
What about Yeddy the Cheddi, bowing to every possible swamiji and visiting every possible temple in an unabashed lust for power?
He got his just dessert.
I know this drama by gowda clan seems to go on on forever……..But I would still like to hear the pathetic excuses and complaints of BJP leaders at the national level. It will be a shame on the people of Karnataka if they ever vote for Gowdas or BJP. Mannina Maga has soiled Karnataka’s reputation. Congress doesnt have to play the caste card, aam aadmi card or even minority card to win this election in karnataka, they have sat back and enjoyed the play so far.
If Intellectuals and environmentalists can be bought by China, there is no surprise on lesser mortals like politicians falling into thier hands…
1. China sponsored Anti Kudremukh campaign by Buddhi jeevis…got the project closed…
2. China has been sponsoring anti development activities in coastal karnataka…protest for any project! with our english+skills, China feels threatened…but they are confident of our “Buddhi Jeevis” helping them!
Will Dr. Ramesh please acknowledge he is the Holenarasipur crooks’ blog face?
TS, it is called pre-emptive censorship ;)
Dr. Ramesh,
Honestly, do you think that the kapi santaana can do anything wrong?
Looking forward to some enlightenment. Please oblige. Thank you.
it’s such a shame :-( .Politicians are not fools.But people who vote to these idiots are.
Sisya and Dr. Ramesh
Swalpa http://www.prajavani.net and http://www.Kannadaprabha.com o-dhi :)
bjp and congress have played more dirtier game with democracy in goa. they can go to any levels to have power.
remember UP , bjp’s MARA-KOTI AATA with bsp.
one can only laugh at BJP high command.
when bjp was in power in the centre, everyday senior leaders visited jayalalitha and prostrated before her to please her.
SHAME ON NATIONAL MEDIA WHO COMMENT KARNATAKA POLITICS HAVE HIT A NEW LOW.
look at the way ,devegowda behaved when he lost confidence vote in the parliament ,he refused to budge to any compromise. he behaved in a dignified manner,never resorted to ABUSIVE–language. in comparison look at yediyurappa ,sriramulu.
MATADAARA BJP ge SARIYAADA PAATA KALISTAARE.
Dr. Ramesh,
Halitosis = Devegowda