In the dirty world of Indian politics, there are few who blossom like the lotus giving the hope that even amidst the dirt lies the beauty. S.M. Krishna of the Congress (former CM) is one such lotus.
I have been an ardent admirer of S.M. Krishna from the very day he came into office. His polite, yet tough style of functioning, involving people in solving people's problems, bringing infrastructure boom like flyovers in the city, setting up of Bangalore Agenda Task Force (which took up the task of cleaning Bangalore and bringing beauty etc), making IT in Karnataka the first in the country, giving powers to Lok Ayukta to expose corruption, etc are some of the landmark steps he took.
I wonder how Congress sidelined such an acceptable face like him. The reason is known and that is that he was an urban face and not rural one. He should have at least been asked to contest. He has proven himself as an able administrator and functioned like a CEO whose only interest was Karnataka's growth.
At least, Sonia Gandhi would have thought over this. Number of seats in Bangalore increased to 28 making Bangalore crucial for a victory. If Krishna would have been projected as the CM, entire city would have overwhelmingly voted for him. Congress did not do it. Forget this. They did not allow him to contest and not even have a say in who should be the candidates chosen. The party overrode him. This was very sad. I have seen this typical behaviour more in Congress party where the acceptable faces at the regional level get sidelined the moment some sections of the society were against him/her.
After elections, S.M. Krishna's admittance - "I am responsible for the defeat and I own responsibility. We did not work as a team" is an indication of his already known statesmanship.
Mr.Krishna, if at all you ever read this blog, let me tell you that you are the solution to the problem and not the problem at all. You require an award from citizens not just because of you made this statement (while all the other colleagues of yours were accusing each other and JD(S)), but because of the maturity, political sagacity, toughness when it comes to governance and humbleness in character you carry with you. You are a role model. There are only a few in both BJP and Congress. In state Congress, I feel you are the only one.
The statement of this kind is usually one made by seasoned and matured leaders cutting across party lines when they accept defeat. However, even more significant is his statement - " I hope they (the BJP) will have the political will to take up the issues of the state and provide good administration" is a very interesting one. He is accepting the fact that the state needs to grow and therefore the challenge is enormous. Very few leaders across political lines think of the state/nation. Krishna is definitely one of them.
These are post poll statements. Even in pre poll speeches in one of them, he said - "I and my government failed in converting Bangalore into Singapore and therefore expect that if given a chance, will make the promise a reality". It was such a candid admission. No political leader in Karnataka, of late, have I seen with such gentleman like qualities.
It is very sad that the party underestimated him. I am happy that one party got the majority. I am even happier that JD(S) is out of influence.
Look at other leaders of the Congress party - both national and state - none of them first accepted defeat. They accused each other.
While JD(S) and Congress accuse each other with JD(S) having no words on TV, it was a humiliating moment for JD(S).
Yet, something which antagonized me was after elections when BJP fell short of majority by 3 seats, Kumaraswamy said on NDTV - "Let us see if this govt runs 5 months or 5 years". This is the lowest extent to fall. The verdict being clear, he still expects he will be the king maker.
Let's hope that the high expectations are fulfilled. This is the first and the only chance BJP is going to get in Karnataka. If they fail, they will never come back. If they succeed, Karnataka is poised to become bastion of a straight contest between Congress and BJP from then on and that is good because I sincerely believe that both Congress and BJP agree on certain economic principles (if not approaches to solve social issues) and it is good for the state/nation.
I have been an ardent admirer of S.M. Krishna from the very day he came into office. His polite, yet tough style of functioning, involving people in solving people's problems, bringing infrastructure boom like flyovers in the city, setting up of Bangalore Agenda Task Force (which took up the task of cleaning Bangalore and bringing beauty etc), making IT in Karnataka the first in the country, giving powers to Lok Ayukta to expose corruption, etc are some of the landmark steps he took.
I wonder how Congress sidelined such an acceptable face like him. The reason is known and that is that he was an urban face and not rural one. He should have at least been asked to contest. He has proven himself as an able administrator and functioned like a CEO whose only interest was Karnataka's growth.
At least, Sonia Gandhi would have thought over this. Number of seats in Bangalore increased to 28 making Bangalore crucial for a victory. If Krishna would have been projected as the CM, entire city would have overwhelmingly voted for him. Congress did not do it. Forget this. They did not allow him to contest and not even have a say in who should be the candidates chosen. The party overrode him. This was very sad. I have seen this typical behaviour more in Congress party where the acceptable faces at the regional level get sidelined the moment some sections of the society were against him/her.
After elections, S.M. Krishna's admittance - "I am responsible for the defeat and I own responsibility. We did not work as a team" is an indication of his already known statesmanship.
Mr.Krishna, if at all you ever read this blog, let me tell you that you are the solution to the problem and not the problem at all. You require an award from citizens not just because of you made this statement (while all the other colleagues of yours were accusing each other and JD(S)), but because of the maturity, political sagacity, toughness when it comes to governance and humbleness in character you carry with you. You are a role model. There are only a few in both BJP and Congress. In state Congress, I feel you are the only one.
The statement of this kind is usually one made by seasoned and matured leaders cutting across party lines when they accept defeat. However, even more significant is his statement - " I hope they (the BJP) will have the political will to take up the issues of the state and provide good administration" is a very interesting one. He is accepting the fact that the state needs to grow and therefore the challenge is enormous. Very few leaders across political lines think of the state/nation. Krishna is definitely one of them.
These are post poll statements. Even in pre poll speeches in one of them, he said - "I and my government failed in converting Bangalore into Singapore and therefore expect that if given a chance, will make the promise a reality". It was such a candid admission. No political leader in Karnataka, of late, have I seen with such gentleman like qualities.
It is very sad that the party underestimated him. I am happy that one party got the majority. I am even happier that JD(S) is out of influence.
Look at other leaders of the Congress party - both national and state - none of them first accepted defeat. They accused each other.
While JD(S) and Congress accuse each other with JD(S) having no words on TV, it was a humiliating moment for JD(S).
Yet, something which antagonized me was after elections when BJP fell short of majority by 3 seats, Kumaraswamy said on NDTV - "Let us see if this govt runs 5 months or 5 years". This is the lowest extent to fall. The verdict being clear, he still expects he will be the king maker.
Let's hope that the high expectations are fulfilled. This is the first and the only chance BJP is going to get in Karnataka. If they fail, they will never come back. If they succeed, Karnataka is poised to become bastion of a straight contest between Congress and BJP from then on and that is good because I sincerely believe that both Congress and BJP agree on certain economic principles (if not approaches to solve social issues) and it is good for the state/nation.
2 comments:
I agree that the voter turnout in Bangalore would have been great if S M Krishna was given a chance. The entire technology crowd would have backed him.
Baw, kasagad-sagad sa iya ubra blog!
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