Modi-Shah Leave BJP Defenceless In Karnataka - By Yashwant Sinha
The sordid drama enacted by the BJP in Karnataka has finally come to an end with the ignominious exit of its three-day Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa. His downfall was a foregone conclusion unless, as the BJP leaders camping in Bengaluru were claiming, its recourse to the most shameless act of poaching other parties' MLAs succeeded. Since that did not happen because the MLAs refused to be bought, the exercise sank into the septic tank. Yet the Karnataka episode will go down in as one of the sorriest chapters in our democratic history. The campaign for the assembly elections was bitter in itself. The Prime Minister threw all decency to the winds, as he did during the Gujarat assembly elections, and attacked his rivals in a language which did not behoove his high office. His charge that Generals Cariappa and Thimaiyya were insulted by the then Congress regime fell short of facts. It was also in bad taste. After the bitterly fought elections, the results produced a hung assembly. ...