Shamanur saved day for Congress, JD(S)?

Bengaluru: Despite  being confident of their numbers, the JD(S) and Congress MLAs, who were holed up  in Hyderabad had their own apprehensions as television channels spoke of one or the other rumour about  legislators being poached.

By Friday evening, the BJP and Congress leaders were talking of flying to Bengaluru in a special aircraft. But  late that night,  the legislators boarded buses for the city. On  reaching Bengaluru, the legislators checked into Le Meridian and headed for Vidhana Soudha in the same buses.

Although the Supreme Court had ruled that the entire legislature proceeding should be telecast as a precaution against any foul play, the Congress and JD(S) leaders decided they would not react whatever might be the provocation.

And they remained silent even when in his emotional speech, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa called the last Congress administration a misrule, that had triggered farmers suicides and chided JD(S) chief, H D Kumaraswamy for joining hands with the Congress. Remaining calm, they did not react at all until he announced resignation and left the House.

DK-HDK bhai-bhai
For over three  decades, they were sworn enemies in the Vokkaliga heartland of the state. Janata Dal (S) supremo, Deve Gowda and senior Congress leader, D K Shivakumar, have fought  many a bitter battle with the latter even accused at times of trying to break the Dal and lure its legislators

But these elections, the two rivals appeared to forget their differences and Mr Shivakumar burnt the midnight oil to ensure that Congress legislators were not influenced by the BJP.  And when Mr  Yeddyurappa announced that he would resign instead of seeking a trust vote, the two leaders held  hands and punched the air in a sign of victory. Could this signal  a new beginning in Vokkaliga politics?

B-team of BJP?
During the elections, the Congress had repeatedly accused the JD(S) for being the B-team of the BJP. But on Saturday, the front row of opposition benches in the Legislative appeared to have been taken over by the Janata Parivar, present and former. Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was in the first seat, followed by Mr R V Deshpande,  Mr Ramesh Kumar, Dr G Parameshwar, Mr D K Shivakumar, Mr H D Kumaraswamy and Mr H D Revanna. Barring Dr G Parameshwar and Mr D K Shivakumar, all the rest came to the  Congress from the Janata Parivar.

Shamanur, the saviour?
During his farewell speech, Mr Yeddyurappa admitted to contacting many legislators from the opposition for support, and it appears it was Mr Shamanur Shivashankarappa, who stood firm to save the day  for the JD(S)-Congress coalition.

Contacted not only by the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, but also by seers of various mutts, the grand old man stood like a rock and refused to bite the Lingayat bait offered. 

Had he given in to pressure, he would have taken at least another four or five Lingayat MLAs with  him. His refusal boosted the morale of Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) leaders  and they started working harder on saving their other MLAs from being poached by the Bharatiya Janata Party.