A tectonic political shift that brought the Congress back to power dismantling the BJP's first-ever government in the South topped the variegated developments during 2013 in Karnataka.
The year also saw the usual quota of bitter wrangling on Cauvery water sharing between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, a bomb blast near the BJP headquarters here and the passing away of legendary playback singers P B Srinivas and Manna Dey. On the corporate front, the country's IT capital saw the grand re-entry of N R Narayana Murthy as Chairman of Infosys two years after his retirement in a bid to revive its fortunes and take it back to its halcyon days of glory.
As the year 2013 was ushered in, political turbulence continued in the state with the BJP government becoming more shaky as the then Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar faced unending troubles from B S Yeddyurappa whose supporters in the ruling party made him spend sleepless nights. Twelve MLAs backing Yeddyurappa resigned from the BJP and threw in their lot with Yeddyurappa to topple the precarious Shettar government in January.
The number of rebels began to swell with Yeddyurappa going on the offensive to rope in more MLAs with the crisis continuing to keep the chequered regime of BJP on razor's edge till the end of its term. As the Assembly elections neared, the writing on the wall for the BJP was clear - that its days were numbered as an anti-incumbency atmosphere became more and more palpable with political instability and corruption charges tainting the government's image.
Elections came in May and the electorate handed out a clear and decisive mandate voting the Congress back to power with 121 seats in the 224-member Assembly and pushing BJP to the third spot. Yeddyurappa's KJP chipped away BJP's votes share, garnering 10 per cent of the votes polled but only managing to win six seats. It, however, had the consolation of teaching a lesson to BJP, which won only 40 seats, down from 110 secured in 2008.
The standalone victory was a big relief for the Congress which has returned to power after a hiatus of more than seven years.
The last time the party enjoyed a clear mandate was in 1999 when it won 123 seats under S M Krishna's leadership. The Congress had formed a coalition government with the JD(S) in 2004 which, however, was short lived.
As expected, 64-year-old Siddaramaiah was chosen by the Congress to head the government after a virtual non-contest as his only serious challenger Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge easily opted out clearing the way for him. KPCC chief G Parameshwara would have been a serious contender for the CM's post but he lost the election.
A man of the Janata Parivar lineage, Siddaramaiah took over the reins of administration on May 13 and is now enjoying the initial lease of goodwill by and large, barring some controversies which, however, are not unsettling. The early part of 2013 saw Karnataka and Tamil Nadu locked in a wrangle over water sharing with the state saying it cannot spare water to the detriment of its own drinking water needs. Tamil Nadu insisted on 12 TMCft of water release.
The year started on a happy note for Tamil Nadu as the Centre issued the notification on the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal providing a framework for water sharing, thanks to the Supreme Court's intervention. There was ugly manifestation of terror as a bomb blast in close proximity to the BJP headquarters here left 17 people injured just weeks before the May 8 Assembly elections.
