Southern Discomfort

Bad times for the BJP in Karnataka continues. In a state which the party hoped would be its gateway to the South, infighting is squandering away the gains made during the recent polls. Now former CM and backward class leader S. Bangarappa, who ensured the BJP became the single largest party in the assembly polls, is set to quit the party. Sources say he may join Mulayam Singh’s SP, because it is "ideologically and politically in sync with his current situation." Bangarappa’s return to the Congress is ruled out because he recently went full blast against Sonia Gandhi. However, Deve Gowda’s JD(S) may not be completely out of his radar. Another heavyweight who is set to shun the BJP is RS member M. Rajashekar Murthy. He is likely to return to the Congress which he had quit in 1999 when arch-rival S.M. Krishna was flying high.