After Karnataka Chief Minister and HD Kumaraswamy broke down at a public event on Sunday, expressing helplessness at having to form a coalition government with the Congress, a measure the JD(U) leader described as “swallowing the poison”, Union Minister Arun Jaitley seized the moment to say that the incident only underlined the need for strong national leadership.
He said India would prefer a leader such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the next general elections, as opposed to a squabbling federal flock gathered by the Congress, which, he said, had a history of betraying regional leaders.
He said the chemistry of a strong leader would triumph in an “aspirational and vibrant” country over tragedy kings and “becharas” backed by a weak Congress. In a Facebook blog, titled “Is the Karnataka a Preview of what the Congress and the Federal Front Promise for the Future?”, Jaitley likened Kumaraswamy’s situation to the “tragedy era of Hindi cinema”. For the benefit of the provincial leaders heading regional parties, whom he described as “mavericks” with “ideologically flexible” political positions, Jaitley compared Kumaraswamy’s predicament to those like Chaudhary Charan Singh, Chandrashekhar, HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujaral, whose tenures as prime minister had been cut short by the Congress.
“In the past few days we witnessed Kumaraswamy baring his emotions with tears, wetting his eyes and declining to accept bouquets and garlands. He was candid enough to publicly state ‘I am swallowing my pain just nothing more than poison without sharing it’… Listening to these statements of an Honourable Chief Minister, my memory took me back to the dialogues of the tragedy era of Hindi cinema. If this is the consequence of a two party coalition, what is it that a disparate group of parties with no ideological similarity offer to India?” asked Jaitley.
Forty-eight hours before the last Monsoon Session of the 16th Lok Sabha begins, the Leader of the Upper House said the obvious negative agenda of a “non-ideological, opportunistic alliance” is “to keep Modi out”. Outlining the theme as he perceives it of the next general elections, he said it would be a Modi-versus-the-rest battle.
“If such a coalition is a cup of poison, why even dream of inflicting it on the nation? The leader of the world’s fastest growing economy cannot be a ‘bechara’ (a helpless person),” Jaitley added.
Look inward: Cong to BJP
Responding to Jaitley’s blog, Karnataka Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said: “Before making comments on the JD(S)-Congress alliance, Jaitley should look into his party’s backyard. What was the ideological compulsion of BJP to form a government with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir?
Was it not an unholy alliance withincompatible partners? Was it not an opportunist attempt by BJP?” Rao asked.
He also questioned BJP’s “desperation” to form governments in Goa and the North-Eastern states by striking “unholy alliances” with the respective parties there.