The Hindu : BJP certain to lose Dharwad North to Cong.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 30, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

BJP certain to lose Dharwad North to Cong.

By M. Madan Mohan

HUBLI May 29. That the BJP MP, Vijay Sankeshwar, was drifting away from the party was no secret. But what has come as a surprise to those who have been following the political career of Sankeshwar, who resigned from the party on Wednesday, is his decision to float a regional party to further the cause of Karnataka.

The three-time MP, who was drawn into the BJP fold, was a political nonconformist among the party members from the beginning. The disillusionment with the party started quite early. In party circles, he had given open expression to the dwindling fortunes of the party. This open denunciation earned him the sobriquet as a rebel in the party. The breaking point, however, was the manner in which the NDA Government at the Centre handled the issue of the formation of a railway zone with Hubli as its headquarters, and the successful agitation Mr. Sankeshwar led over the re-transfer of the Tornagallu-Bellary section from the South Central Railway Zone to the South Western Railway Zone.

The relationship between the party leadership at local and State levels had been quite tenuous. While Mr. Sankeshwar resented being treated as any of the umpteen hangers-on gravitating around the leadership, the party workers found it difficult to meet him and interact with him. There was a lot of grumbling within the ranks that Mr. Sankeshwar was not available for the party work.

He had no compunction in speaking against the party leadership on this issue. Threatening to stage a black-flag demonstration during the visit of Union ministers and leading a "rail rook" agitation against the Government on the railway zone issue were unprecedented.

On his moves jeopardising his political career, Mr. Sankeshwar made it clear during the agitation over the railway zone issue that he was not interested in contesting again to the Lok Sabha, and he had not enrolled as a party member during the enrolment drive that was on then. "I have always been reluctant to contest. It is the party which prevailed upon me to contest," he said. On the party membership, he said despite the pressure on him, he refused to enrol as a member.

He had become bitter about the treatment given to Karnataka in general and North Karnataka in particular in the "Delhi Darbar". "We are treated as beggars in New Delhi," he had said.

The party leadership, which was embarrassed by Mr. Sankeshwar's action, put on a brave face for public consumption. He was not pulled up for his action. In fact, his campaign for the railway zone was seen as something done to further the interests of the party. Basavaraj Patil Sedam, President of the State unit of the BJP, and Venkaiah Naidu, President, reportedly found nothing wrong in his advocacy of the cause for the railway zone.

Another aspect was that he had started openly advocating the need to have a non-political front for championing the Karnataka's case in New Delhi. That this led to his decision to float a new party has come as a surprise. The new party is not going to be an outcome of a people's movement. His leadership has not been charismatic to sustain the interest of the people and carry them with him. What are the chances of the survival of the new outfit in the context of the failure of such ventures made by the battle scarred veterans such as the late Devaraj Urs and K.H.Patil, and the redoubtable Deve Gowda? That is the question being asked. Compared to them, Mr. Sankeshwar is a political greenhorn.

Sources close to Mr. Sankeshwar deny that his latest move has anything to do with the fear that he might be replaced during the next election to the Lok Sabha from the Dharwad North constituency by Ananth Kumar, Union Minister for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, who hails from Hubli. It is pointed out that when the party ticket for the Dharwad North seat was going abegging in 1996, Mr. Ananth Kumar chose to contest from Bangalore South rather than his hometown. It was then that Mr. Sankeshwar was pushed into the electoral battle.

It has been quite an open secret that the relations between him and Mr. Ananth Kumar have been strained for quite some time. Though party circles were agog with reports that Mr. Ananth Kumar had come in the way of Mr. Sankeshwar being inducted into the Union Council of Ministers, the MP made it clear long ago that he was never interested in seeking a ministerial berth. "When the offer came, I suggested that Basangouda Patil Yatnal be inducted into the Union Cabinet,'' he said.

Though Mr. Ananth Kumar won the last election from Bangalore South by a narrow margin, it is not safe for him to change the constituency. Bangalore South is comparatively safer for him than Dharwad North.

Dharwad North is a Lingayat dominated constituency, and it was this factor that helped Mr. Sankeshwar win three times. The only upshot of the decision of Mr. Sankeshwar to float a new party is that the BJP is certain to lose the Dharwad North constituency to the Congress.

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