BJP’s love-hate relationship with frenemies

Alliance politics means a partnership of need and greed in India. With it being the last refuge of the scoundrels for a long time now, figuratively speaking, it has offered fascinating insights into how the game of power politics is played out across our country.

With the Bharatiya Janata Party having friends and allies and also frenemies in the form of YSCRP, BJD and till recently JD (U), this new dimension has also been seen to be working effectively for both sides when they unite on a common goal basis.

Among all these kinds of political outfits who have expressed the least commitment to political loyalty, one party – the Karnataka-based Janata Dal (Secular) – a break-away rump of erstwhile socialites, Janata Party and Lok Dal types, has also been popular and a top-of-the mind recall for political observers. It also helped that its founder leader H D Deve Gowda, the ‘humble farmer’ in other words, also touched the top slot of Prime Minister over two decades ago, a key takeaway of coalition politics of the 20th century. JD (S), the father-son-grandson party, is the perfect example of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds, as it has switched sides from Congress to BJP whenever it suited it to keep the CM seat reserved for itself in Bengaluru.

However, 15 years ago, when BJP captured power in Karnataka in 2008 for the first time, it was nothing short of an earth-shattering event for right wing politics in India. The impregnable fortress of south India where their brand of brazen, bulldozing politics was a clear mismatch had somehow given way. But, in hindsight, it seems only just a little, as recent developments show how BJP seems still a lost stranger in Dravidian land.

At the fag end of 2023, the party seems rudderless in local politics after an insipid two terms of rule with the famed cadre-based discipline and cohesion coming unstuck. In a long time, a desperate Congress, having smashed its way into Vidhana Soudha using its five guarantee schemes effectively, has never seen its bitter rival so down and out, with its indefatigable energy levels evaporated. No wonder, armed with an arsenal of weapons to pin down its opponent, the GOP leaders are gleefully rubbing it in, as BJP is wracked by dissidence and a depleted motivation shown by its firefighters.

In this gloomy milieu, the need to bond with its chief frenemy, the JD (S), to salvage a respectable number of seats in 2024 LS polls has sprung up for the Hindutva outfit. The Congress is already on the field, telling its cadre that it is aiming to snatch 20 out of 28 seats, many of them from its rival which had a glorious run, five years ago, bagging a similar number of seats.

However, ground reports emanating from sandalwood country point out that it can be a counterproductive exercise for the BJP, even hastening its exit from the State. This is owing to the caste calculus and realignment between the top two communities – Lingayat and Vokkaliga- may not be uniformly beneficial for the saffron party. Given that New Delhi is busy with other states and many other intricate calculations to retain power for the third time in 2024, Karnataka and its troubles seem very far away from the party bosses in the national capital.