113 isn’t good enough
Legislators switching sides after elections to the Legislative Assembly has become a matter of concern for heads of political parties. With loyalty to the party among the legislators on the wane, former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy feels that a simple majority of winning 113 seats in the 224-member Legislative Assembly in Karnataka is not good enough. This is because leaders of other parties offer inducements to MLAs to switch sides.
Narrating his experience after the formation of the coalition government post the 2018 elections in the Legislative Assembly last week, Mr. Kumaraswamy said MLAs who contest elections by pledging their properties and borrowing loans get easily lured by financial inducements.
With fear of such defections, the JD(S) leader set a target to win 123 seats in the 2023 elections. In the 2018 elections, the Congress and JD S) managed to form the coalition Government by securing 78, and 37 seats, respectively. Because of a wafer-thin majority, the Government collapsed in just 14 months. This time. national parties Congress and BJP too have set a high target of winning 150 seats.
Profession vs. personal beliefs
The hijab row once again took centre stage when the SSLC examinations began a few days ago. Citing the High Court of Karnataka’s order, the State Government said that it would only allow students wearing uniforms to enter the examination halls, shunning hijab. It was left to the officials on ground to ensure implementation of the Government Orders, irrespective of their personal stand on the issue.
For civil servants, striking a balance between personal beliefs and adherence to professional demands is indeed difficult, admitted P. Manivannan, Principal Secretary of the Social Welfare Department.
Speaking at a panel discussion, he candidly admitted that his personal belief was different from the Government’s view. “I have gone by whatever the Government said… That’s the professional philosophy. But my personal belief keeps nagging me and it does affect my work to some extent,” he stated, while stressing on the need for a safe space, where civil servants can talk openly and vent their conflicts.
Empathising with him, retired IAS officer K. Jairaj pointed out that there was much more conflict between personal and professional beliefs today than earlier. He, however, said civil servants needed to develop stoicism to get over these conflicts.
Curious case of Benake
A handful of the ruling BJP’s legislators have spoken against the campaign by Hindutva groups for boycott of halal meat. Among them are A.H. Vishwanath, MLC, and Anil Benake, BJP MLA from Belagavi North.
Why the MLA opposed the boycott of halal meat in a constituency which has a strong Hindutva presence is being hotly debated now. The Maratha leader said that such boycotts were anti-Constitutional and that they were against the fundamental right to livelihood.
Though commentators cite many reasons, his opposition is said to be largely owing to the dominance of minority voters in the constituency. The constituency was represented by Firose Sait of the Congress for a decade. Though the BJP MLA does not bank on minority votes, he seems to have opposed the boycott to avoid daily problems for him and his supporters in the constituency, claims some of his aides. Some others claim that the MLA, who is an advocate by profession, has a lot of clients belonging to the minority community and he values his legal career as much.
Nagesh Prabhu
Chitra V. Ramani
Rishikesh Bahadur Desai
