Karnataka

Mysore musings

President of the city unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) B.P. Manjunath is sceptical about the recent attack on the former MP and Vokkaliga leader G. Made Gowda after the Maddur byelection results were announced.

Despite the transfer of the Superintendent of Police and the Deputy Commissioner of Mandya following the attack on Mr. Made Gowda and the arrests made in connection with the attack,

Mr. Manjunath is not convinced that he was attacked in broad daylight by “hooligans”. He has floated the theory that Mr. Made Gowda was not attacked and that the latter had concocted the whole incident.

This despite the fact that the president of the Mandya unit of the BJP has stated in public that Mr. Made Gowda was attacked for not campaigning for the party candidate in the byelection.

Addressing presspersons on Sunday, Mr. Manjunath said that considering the “emotional” way in which Mr. Made Gowda was reacting, doubts would arise in people’s minds as to whether the former MP was really attacked. He might be concocting the whole incident just to cover up his fault of not campaigning for BJP candidate D.C. Thammanna, he added. Though district in-charge Minister Ramachandre Gowda visited and consoled Mr. Made Gowda, Mr. Manjunath said that in case Mr. Made Gowda was really attacked, the party would condemn the attack.

But presspersons who attended the press conference were not shocked by his statement as Mr. Manjunath is known for making contradictory statements. Interestingly, Mr. Manjunath, while expressing his doubts over the attack is now demanding the resignation of Madhu Made Gowda, party MLC, on “moral grounds” and for authorities to conduct an “impartial” inquiry into the incident.

For our politicians who go around party hopping it is a natural survival trait that has been honed to perfection. But in the process they have cultivated selective amnesia which spares them the embarrassment of coming to terms with the past and confronting the contradictions of their acts in the present.

For instance, D.T. Jayakumar, a one-time Janata Dal (Secular) loyalist, who on being denied a ticket to contest the Assembly elections in May 2008 joined the Bahujan Samaj Party, re-entered the Janata Dal (S) fold recently with folded hands, glibly saying “it happens”.

If Mr. Jayakumar, who contested and lost from Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysore, could feign amnesia about the humiliation meted out to him by his party leaders, there is another issue brewing in the BJP, which has the former Hunsur MLA and erstwhile Janata Dal (S) leader G.T. Deve Gowda squirming in his seat.

Mr. Gowda, who was a close associate of the former Deputy Chief Minister and now Congress leader Siddaramaiah, had parted ways with him with acerbic taunts thrown in for good measure.

Now with rumours afloat that Mr. Siddaramaiah is cozying up to the BJP, Mr. Gowda has no choice but to sing a different tune.

This was evident at a press meet convened last week. When Mr. Gowda’s attention was drawn to the purported moves of Mr. Siddaramaiah, the former described the latter as his “old friend” and said the two had been “together in politics for long” and “knew each other well”.

It is said that in politics there are no permanent allies and no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. In the regional context one may add “no conviction of ideology” either.

MURALIDHARA KHAJANE

R. KRISHNA KUMAR

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