Cradle To Grave?

KARNATAKA has long got used to its chief minister J.H. Patel getting out of tough situations with wit and wordplay. So when Janata Dal factions clashed and workers vented their ire at their own ministers during a series of district-level meetings recently, Patel pressed in the services of his profound wit to explain the public embarrassment: "Silence is found only in cemeteries. Ours is a vibrant and lively party and is noisy like a maternity ward." What Patel missed out in his analogy, however, was that the maternity ward had given birth to serious misgivings about his government and the future of the only JD state government in the country.

Ever since the party came to power in December 1994, the workers nursed a grouse against the government for neglecting them and mismanaging the party after being catapulted to power. But with no appropriate occasion to let out steam, workers were waiting for the right time to get back at the leaders. The occasion came on a platter over the last fortnight when Patel toured the northern districts, followed by a series of district-level meetings organised by state party president B.L. Shankar.

Party meetings in Bangalore (Rural), Mandya and Tumkur districts were disrupted in clashes. Supporters of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda prevented Lok Sabha member P. Kodandaramaiah from speaking in Tumkur. Union minister R.L. Jalappa, a Gowda-baiter, created a furore by accusing Gowda of diverting funds in the Rs 350-crore contracts awarded for the upper Krishna Irrigation project.

And in Mysore, workers rapped nearly a dozen senior ministers for non-performance. Everywhere, workers demanded representation for their leaders in the already oversized Patel ministry. Ganesh, a general secretary of the party in K.R. Nagar, said in Mysore that it was difficult for workers to travel by buses due to the severe public criticism of the government for the bad state of the roads. "I travel by lorries these days to avoid such criticism," Ganesh said.

Other leaders, including some MLAs, went for the government, accusing it of not treating workers with respect. "The workers and the public will teach the government a lesson in the next elections," one worker concluded. "Elected representatives of the party have lost touch with the workers. But that is not endemic to the JD. It happens to all parties when they are in power," says Kodandaramaiah. "But in this case, it is the feudalistic forces in the party who are responsible for the present state of affairs," he says, hinting at Gowda and his sons.

Even party president and Gowda supporter Shankar admits that the grouse of the workers is genuine. Says he: "For two years after the assembly polls, we didn't give importance to the party. We didn't ensure democratic functioning and interaction in the party." Shankar says he wanted to know the minds of the workers: "We will assuage their feelings by talking to them." Shankar, however, clearly disapproves of Jalappa's allegations against Gowda which has been seized by the opposition Congress. While stating that it was Gowda who pushed work on the project into top gear, Shankar points out that Gowda has welcomed an inquiry into the allegations. "It is not correct for Jalappa to accuse Gowda of violating norms. All the decisions on the project were taken by the state cabinet and Jalappa was a member of the cabinet. If there was anything amiss, he should have raised it then itself," he says.

Other party leaders say Jalappa's allegations are a ruse to get at Gowda. Jalappa blames Gowda's sons for interfering in his constituency in a recent bypoll. Such being the vibes among senior partymen, some leaders admit that the future of the party in Karnataka is bleak. Says a senior party leader who did not want to be named: "We have pushed sufficient dirt under the carpet and now it is beginning to stink. It needs serious changes in the leadership, approach of the party towards workers to set things right." But the odds don't seem to be in favour of the party.