End of a coalition

The irony was always striking: H D Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular) tying up with what is in many people's eyes an unsecular BJP, to form a government of breathtaking expediency. The deal was that the two would share power half-and-half along the lines of the arrangement in Jammu and Kashmir, where the National Conference and the Congress have done the same thing, successfully. Because the JD (S) had more seats, it had the first crack at chief ministership, albeit only because Mr Deve Gowda's son, H D Kumaraswamy, quarrelled "" or so it once seemed "" with his dad and accepted the arrangement with the BJP. Thus there was a deal within a deal as well: the son would grab office while dad sulked, showing how secular the latter was. In the end, of course, daddy kissed his son on his forehead and all was well "" until the time came to hand over the chief minister's office to the BJP. Daddy suddenly remembered his secular credentials and imposed conditions for handing over power, conditions that could not be met. The BJP, it has also been said, had arranged for various criminal suits to be filed, naming the chief minister "" which apparently incensed Mr Deve Gowda. The BJP has thus retired hurt. Most people believe it has been wrongly done by, but many also think it got what it deserved for tying up with an unreliable ally. Mr Deve Gowda and Mr Kumaraswamy, who are openly together again, must ask themselves what prospects they now have of winning the elections, which will have to be called before long.

Meanwhile, the BJP thinks it might be able to convert the debacle into a sympathy vote that brings it to power. So after withdrawing support "" it had no option anyway "" it has called for elections. Given how the constitutional machinery has broken down in the state, the governor should anyway be submitting a report to the Centre recommending elections. Until then, President's rule will do. For once it will be fully justified. This cannot be a way to run the government of any state, let alone of a state that boasts of having the country's IT capital. In the last few years, especially, as economic growth has come to the state and as different political parties have tried to extract illegal gratifications from the boom, the deterioration in governance has been comparable to what has happened in some of the less fancied states of North India.

On a longer view, it is early days yet to suggest that, given the degree of political fragmentation caused by social identity politics, power-sharing a la J&K and Karnataka will be inevitable in the future. But serious attention needs to be paid to the fact that such arrangements became necessary twice in three years. Should the trend accelerate, is India prepared for it? What if the next Parliamentary election leads to this sort of arrangement at the Centre? The key to the success of such an arrangement, as both J&K at home and Israel abroad have shown, is the faith that both sides will keep their side of the bargain.