Karnataka election results: Why we shouldn't write off Yeddyurappa yet

Sigh! Democracy will win in Karnataka today. A clutch of self-serving, power-hungry and sinfully wealthy – never mind the means by which such wealth is acquired – do-gooders will jostle and jump over each other’s head to grab the throne once the results are in. Who will it be? As things stand today [0900 hours 8th May 2013] the INC is headed for a victory; but if one were to go by the statements issued by various top dogs of political parties, it could be anybody’s game. Optimism or delusion, we will know by late afternoon. Sample this: “There is no scope for a fractured mandate. The Congress will emerge as the single-largest party and cross the figures cited in the exit polls. My party is poised to get 115-120 seats” –G.Parameshwara, KPCC President. “I know the pulse of the people. I have travelled the entire state. We will get enough seats to form a government of our own” – H D Kumaraswamy, JD(S) State President “Pre-poll surveys and exit polls will be proved wrong. We will get a good number of seats” – Prahlad Joshi, BJP State President Those of us who reside in Karnataka and/or follow Karnataka politics know one thing – BS Yeddyurappa is the proverbial slippery eel wrapped inside a banana peel. Master of doublespeak. Practitioner of the banal near-anal uttered loftily. Epitome of flip-flops and devious machinations. Paragon of Machiavellianism. Big fat teardrops and false outrage. Makes one cogitate a whisper on Potiphar’s wife. Tantrums designed to confuse wily opponents. Rushes to temples occasionally to hold duels with imaginary opponents. Loves buses and resorts – with lots of loyalists thrown into both. When all else fails, plays the role of a perfectly healthy malingerer as he eases himself into a hospital bed. Sympathy-card, here I come! A bundle of contradictions. Not in the same league as Mulayam Singh, but belongs to the same cluster. One wonders if he even keeps track of what he says, because he says so many things; usually, every subsequent statement is contradictory to the preceding one. He now says: [caption id=“attachment_762033” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Will Yeddyurappa join the Congress? PTI[/caption] “The KJP will get 50 seats and form a government with Congress. I will be the next Chief Minister. The Congress high command is looking at the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and wants 20 seats from Karnataka. I can win those for the congress”. Hmmmm….. The same BSY appeared on national television a couple of days ago, and said something along the lines of: post 8th May, he would focus on the Lok Sabha elections, go to Delhi and explore the option of a third front. Non-Congress, non-BJP third front, one assumes. Or is there any other kind?  Yet he is now confident of forming a “government with Congress” and he can win the 20 LS seats which the Congress is eyeing [oh how they eye seats and the concomitant goodies!] to win in the LS polls. He is not done yet. In the aforementioned television debate, he rounded off his laughably misplaced and hubris-laced statements by saying “all options are open”. Of course they are! I am not done yet either. The same BSY expressed great admiration for the Congress High Command last year. This was when Pranab Mukherjee was making grandiloquent statements – humbly so - along the lines of this-post-is-too-high-to-be-canvassed-for, before he promptly proceeded to traverse the length and breadth of this country, canvassing! Pit stops galore – Jagan, Karuna, Maya, Mulayam, Yeddy, Mamata. So Sonia is the perfect high command?  Yet he wants to be a part of a third front. But he can also win 20 LS seats for the Congress in 2014!???? Like I said, slippery eel wrapped inside a banana peel. With one eye on power and the other on hastily de-notified plots of land? Zigs when you zag and zags when you zig. This is one story that is not over yet – if INC finds itself a few seats short [including the Independents, who of course will join forces due to a stunning overlap of ideologies, and not the wads of cash that may change hands], BSY is in the game. Unfortunately for him, HD Kumaraswamy will not be sitting on the sidelines, twiddling his thumbs either. Contrary to what he said earlier: We would prefer to sit in the Opposition, if the people’s mandate is against him. Or something to that effect. The tandav continues……democracy wins. Did you vote? Is it time to raise the pitch and push for a system wherein political parties declare their alliance partners before the elections? Methinks yes – in all fairness to the voters, they deserve to know the final shape and construct of the alliance they are voting for. Failing which, democracy is reduced to a mad, opportunistic and grotesquely vile scramble for power. Mail: shining.path.notperu@gmail.com Twittering tittle-tattle: @ShiningPath1