The Rot Exposed

The Rot Exposed POLITICAL developments in Karnataka, culminating in the dismissal of the Janata Dal government and the imposition of president's rule, have held a mirror to the sorry state to which parliamentary politics in the country has been reduced. There is, first of all, the conduct of the governor of the state who, throwing to the winds all considerations of im- partiality enjoined upon him by his constitutional position, performed like a vassal of the central government and the Con- gress(l) party. Only last month the central government and the Congress(I) had, it wilt be recalled, made known their displeasure to the governor for his failure to more actively obstruct the Bommai government's formal change of labels from Janata Par- ty to Janata Dal, following the formation of the Dal at the na- tional level. The governor had then been driven almost to the point of/submitting his resignation, according to reports, Thus softened up, the governor has given no cause for complaint to the Congress(I) this time. No sooner had he received intima- tion of the withdrawal of support to the Janata Dal government by 19 MLAs than he rushed, by a special courier, his report to the centre stating that the Bommai government had been reduced to a minority in the assembly and that a situation had arisen in which the government of the state could not be carried on according to the provisions of the constitution and recommen- ding dismissal of the government, imposition of central rule and dissolution of the assembly