Yesterday was Saturday and the whole country watched with bated breath the Saturday Political Fever of Karnataka. Voting was on May 12, 2018 and when the results came on 15th May 2018 the numbers were as follows: BJP 104, Congress 78, JD(S) 38 and others 2. The exit polls predicted a hung Assembly with the exception of Today’s Chanakya and Yours Truly. Both of us were not too far off the mark though, what with BJP crossing the two-digit mark with a shortfall of 8 for the magic number of 112 while others, Congress with 78 and JD(S) with 38 remained two digits. However, the FACT is that it was a fragmented mandate ending up with a HUNG Assembly. It is said in jurisprudence, that he who is first in time is first in law. However, in democratic electoral battles this dictum does not hold good unless the numbers favour the party or the party-in-alliance. This exactly is what happened yesterday. Congress, having learnt its lessons about the importance of stitching up a coalition with the other willing parties to garner required numbers faster than the BJP, as it happened in Goa, Manipur and Mizoram, moved with lightening speed this time and joined hands with JD(S). This done, the Congress-JD(S) combine staked claim to form the Government. Of course, BJP was faster than lightening when it approached the Governor, a BJP man. Here too Congress-JD(S) lagged behind by one hour! By the way, this tradition of appointing party men as Governors was laid down by the Grand Old Party (GOP) of India, Congress itself. The BJP staked claim to form the Government with a vague promise of cobbling up the magic number 112 while Congress-JD(S) has already had its majority with clear-cut figures. But, an obliging Governor hurriedly got Yeddyurappa, the BJP’s LP leader, as the Chief Minister with no others sworn-in along with him. It looked funny and odd. What kind of a Cabinet he would head? And yet he had the audacity to transfer 5 IPS Officers as his first act as a fresh Chief Minister! Strange. No wonder Congress-JD(S) combine after staking claim to be invited to form the Government went to the Supreme Court at midnight to stay the swearing-in of Yeddyurappa the following day at 10.30 am. The Supreme Court too must have wondered at the vulgar hurry of the Governor in agreeing to swear-in Yeddyurappa the next day May 17 morning and gave a night-long hearing till dawn to the Congress-JD(S) combine’s plea. But, the SC in its wisdom and because of the Constitutional power of the Governor, did not stay the swearing-in as prayed for. However, the Supreme Court, in its Solomon-like wisdom, cut down the 15 days time given by the Governor to Yeddyurappa to prove his majority in a Floor Test in the Assembly, (Bommai case), to 24 hours+. And lo and behold this made all the difference because there was no time for BJP for indulging in ‘horse trading’ or ‘Operation Kamala’ for which Karnataka BJP is famous. And now the result is before us. The JD(S), which was derisively called an eternal King-maker in Karnataka politics and a party which was called by Congress and Rahul Gandhi himself as the B-Team of BJP and in his public speech sarcastically expanded JD(S) as Janata Dal Sangh (meaning RSS), has now become the King. As I watched the Karnataka political drama unfold, I remembered a book by the veteran journalist and author, T.J.S. George, the only surviving highly respected commentator on Indian politics,
