A brief round-up of hot topics while Offstumped remains indisposed.
The BJP seems hell bent on taking a suicidal path in Karnataka. First it was the populism of free power and now it is the parochial politics of Cauvery water sharing. If Narendra Modi in Gujarat showed the way on how to collaborate with Rajasthan to share natural resources the BJP in Karnataka seems determined to turn the clock back on Karnataka politics.
Offstumped warning to the BJP in Karnataka
There are no winners in the water wars of the parochial kind
It aint enough to have Narendra Modi campaign in Karnataka if the lessons of Minimum Government and Maximum Governance are lost in the run up to the assembly elections.??
Where is the out of the box thinking ?
Where is the innovation ?
Karnataka needs?a vision for improving local civic Governance in the urban centers and innovative Public-Private Partnerships for the rural sector.
The sooner B.S. Yeduriyappa gets his act together the better for the BJP.
Some interesting insights from Below Poverty Line data?from Karnataka
Take a look at the parts of Karanataka that made it to Rahul Gandhi’s itinerary.
Chamarajnagar had about 71,000 BPL families.
Gadag had only 20,000 BPL families
Dharwad about 21,000 BPL families
Bagalkot 53,000
Bijapur 56,000
The most poor districts of Belgaum with 1.6lakhs, Gulbarga with 1.91 lakhs, strangely did not figure in his “discovery tour”. In fact of the 5 most poor districts in Karnataka only Raichur figured in his tour with the exception of the wildlife safari in Mysore
For a party which intends to have the poor firmly in its vice like grip with both hands, one wonders why the “heir apparent” was kept away from the most poverty ridden areas of Karnataka, any guesses ?
In closing Offstumped response to Rahul Gandhi’s new slogan
Haan ek haath se gala thodi dabega, garibon ke gala dabaane ke liye “Congress ke dono haath saath chahiye”
Filed under: Karnataka Polls 2008, Uncategorized
[...] closing Offstumped response to Rahul Gandhi’s new [...]
Offstumped: I do not agree with you.
Yes, while broader “Minimum Government and Maximum Governance” is definitely on the cards, you need to play the game which is played by others.
Psuedos are now deliberately raising parocial issue, trying to divide Hindus into subnationalities.
Its better to coopt those, and then move on.
[...] the rest of this great post here Author: Time: Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 7:20 pm Category: karnataka Comments: You can [...]
I thought the BJP would learn from Modi’s success in Gujarat and try to replicate it elsewhere. This is pathetic.
I disagree.
BJP should win power in Karnataka by any means necessary. Power should be attained by promising whatever that works, as chanakya said, “saam dam dand bhed”. Let’s not fall into the Gandhian trap of fighting a ‘just fight’ with an cunning Congressi rival. Congressis may be harmful for India, but they are shrewd smart politicians, and BJP needs to fight them on their level if it hopes to win. If it helps promising televisions, a bag of rice, or the moon, BJP should promise that to win, while also talking about ‘bijli, sadak, paani’. It’s upto the BJP to decide what promises to carry out once in power.
It’s what you do with the power that will differentiate BJP from Congress, not how they get it. The Gujurat BJP did not have it’s house in order from the get go, there were ‘growing pains’, there were unworkable alliances, there were blunders, before the great Merchant of Death arrived on the scene.
Narendra modi has addressed letter to Narendra Modi orkut community which has more than 10000 member as of date. I think it is worth taking look at this letter bcoz it gives correct understanding of his attitude.
http://www.namo.co.in/
Please check this out….
Gujjuman – fantastic, he is doing the right thing investing in the future
Aryan, Thathagat – there are no brownie points in being a poor clone of the Congress. Why will the people vote for a Congress B team when they can get the real one, if that is what they really want. Populism and parochial politics are the hallmark of lazy politicians who dont want to do the hardwork of capturing the people’s imagination.
I think election promises are art of balance between ensuring that you are not short on the kind of tactics the opponent uses AND ensuring that you do not completely drain the state treasury but are left with enough resources to implement your own long-term vision.
The trick is not to confuse the 2 or loose the balance. It is easier for a non-politician in us to comment purely out of idealism and move on to our daily jobs versus loosing the election and then watch the Congress steal more (over the next 5 years) from the treasury than would have cost a clean government to keep an election promise.
Yossarin,
“there are no brownie points in being a poor clone of the Congress.”
and there NEVER will be, I agree. BUT its about matching congress BEFORE BJP comes to power, not AFTER.
“Populism and parochial politics are the hallmark of lazy politicians who dont want to do the hardwork of capturing the people’s imagination.”
Right again, BUT the BJP needs populism to establish a beach-head in the south for the first time. Modi could afford not being a populist because he had his performance to back him, the KBJP has nothing.
It’s inspiring to be an Obama in 08′, but it’s better to WIN like a BUSH in 04, and they are not mutually exclusive. BJP should be inspirational, but it can spice things up with some populism.
BJP without populism would be like boxing with one hand behind your back, you usually lose, no matter how good you are, or how lofty your ideals are.
@ Aryan
Good point. But then shouldn’t one choose the ‘correct’ issues? There are certainly populist issues that can be very difficult to deal with (or will be a nuisance) later on. Bringing up water sharing is one example. Promising a separate state (as in Telegana for instance) is another.
Photonman,
I agree, I meant more of the ‘benign populism’ like free bus rides for girl students or a bag of rice, something you dont need not break the treasury to fulfill or put national integrity at stake. I also think the electorate is cynical enough to take election year ‘promises’ with a grain of salt. =)
I am with Aryan on this issue. The problem we guys have is that we expect every BJP leader to be a Modi or Advani or Vasundhara Raje or Khanduri. BJP should do whatever it takes to get power and as Aryan rightly pointed out, if they show the development standards that we expect from a BJP govt, then no problems. And as such Yeduruppa is just any other normal minister India has had. Let them get power by any means and then it is upto the central brass of BJP to float in the ideology of a party with a difference in karnataka. Most importantly, it is very important because BJP should make sure that it has a victory in all possible states on its way to the grand finale.
[...] 1st April 2008 Karnataka Polls – Water Wars, BPL and more …. [...]