Karnataka : Crisis of Powerlessness

Crisis of Powerlessness THE Janata Dal appears to be striving to demonstrate that internal power struggles (or shall we call them squabbles?) are most intense when there is the least to be gained. For a government which has barely six months in office, and a party which is on the brink of an election which will in all likelihood wipe it out, the Janata Dal in Karnataka is remarkably complacent. No one, least of all the chief minister, appears to be concerned with the deteriorating administration and lack of governance in the state. If the fact that there is a crisis in governance in Karnataka is not widely acknowledged, it is only because it has not manifested, yet, in a major breakdown of the law and order situation. But there is enough evidence that the lack of administration is striking at significant developmental gains that the state had made in the past. And the fault lies not only in the manner in which the ruling party has been conducting itself but in the almost pathological inability of the state