Why not put an end to this political rigmarole?

It is shameful to watch the behaviour of elected members of Karnataka state assembly with the recent crisis blowing up. It is no surprise that the coalition government cannot last as it was formed by the parties rejected by people.  I had outlined this as soon as the election results  were out leading to hung assembly.
Look at today the tug of war going on !!

Now, after barely 14 months later, 14 members from the supporting party have resigned from the party  due to dissatisfaction on account of "non performance".

Initially the CM tried to blame BJP of horse trading.  They had strongly refuted the allegation and said it is internal squabble between JDS and Congress.

What could be the squabble about?

     My guess is that the EMI ( hope you understand) has not been paid as per agreement and the MLAs getting a fear that they had been taken for granted. When demand is raised both party bigwigs  look the other way. "A pig that has two masters is bound to die of starvation" 

    Naturally when the promises have not been kept it generates contempt and acrimony. These are all undercurrents and common man like us never come to know the size of the deal nor the true culprits.
If the media members get to know also they may not reveal either because of friendship with the political clout or of fear.

The Chief minister has ignored the governor's recommendation to face the 'floor test' to  win the motion of confidence twice . Obviously he realizes that is not going to be possible.

  The strategy of JDs & Congress today is to force the President to dismiss the government  and cry victimisation by BJP  ( I am writing this as the drama is still in progress & the out come is yet to unfold)

To what level the so called 'leaders' can stoop !!

   We need to amend  the constitution whereby numbers ( or majority) are not important.  It must enable the largest political party to form the government whether it enjoys majority or not. They should be allowed to work for a period of minimum three years without fear of 'no confidence' in the assembly floor. For more details please see my earlier post on Election reforms.

    A skeptic may say ' you get the government you deserve'. To a great extent it may be true. That cannot be the reason to remain as a passive witness to looting of tax payers money by a few politicians.

   If the system need to be corrected it should be, especially when the required strength is there with the central government to make the corrective action.

Update as on 23/07/2019 on the political crisis in Karnataka

After  prolonged sessions for two days with very boring rhetoric by the most of the treasury bench speakers finally the speaker of the assembly, Shri Ramesh Kumar, decided to conduct the voting on no-confidence motion. The result was well known even before voting started. The coalition government fell by receiving  99 to 105 votes against it.

It is to be seen that how many more comic situations may come up before next government is formed. Till then the media world will have plenty of news alias rumors and gossips in the name of discussions.  Jai Kar-nataka, Jai Bharat !!!!

Reduce elections- save public money

Indian media are possessed with  three things Cricket, Cinema and Corruption. Wherever money comes in to play  corruption is bound to be there.

Corruption in systems can be addressed through legal course of action. But when the very basis of  governance is entrenched with corruption, the remedy is difficult through legal course.

One way is to modify the system so that scope for corruption becomes less and and less.

Fathers of our Indian constitution had good confidence in the citizens who were expected to be patriots. Probably they least expected that the very representatives of people would stoop to the level of ' horse trading'.

Once again we see it in Karnataka, a hung Assembly after the recent elections. The Party with highest elected members is unable to form a government because it falls short of absolute majority.

The opposition is bent upon preventing it to form the government.They are ready to form 'unholy' alliances. Politicians who were slinging mud on each other a few days before  the election are ready to become 'friends' after the results came.

Everyone knows that this kind of opportunistic friendship won't last. Soon 'President's Rule' will come in effect, a question of few month's time. This means bureaucrats will run the administration.

Attitude of these politicians reflect least respect for people's mandate.  The president of a party -which lost deposit in nearly 140 constituents- aspires and manipulates the system to become the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Satish Acharya's todays cartoon in Star of Mysore aptly reflects the ground reality.

This is not the first time nor going to be the end of this problem. Public money is squandered in conducting elections because of absence of commitment by the representatives.

 It is going to recur again again at both state level and National level.  The logical remedy for this is, all elected members accept the People's mandate and allow a minority government to run its course while the opposition gives issue based support.

That is not going to happen, for seat of Power is for tapping the source of money, NOT  working for Public Welfare

In that case a remedy has to be worked out through constitutional amendment which  strikes off this 'number game' but reflects the spirit of people mandate.

What kind of amendment is required ?

1) Always the political party with highest representatives will form the government.

2) If they do not enjoy absolute majority they have to seek referendum To continue or Not to continue at the end of half term. 

3) All public servants  like IAS, IPS IFS  Senior officers and  Heads of Departments of different government departments ( in short all gazetted officials)  will participate in an online electronic voting to decide the fate of the minority government.  It is an inexpensive way of seeking opinion from citizens in responsible positions without any election expenses. Similar to Corporates seeking  online-consent   from share holders  for Board Resolutions during AGM 

4) The minority government will be able to implement all programs subject to certain restrictions  with regard to launching mega projects ( like bullet train ).

At national level, the elected members of all state assembly will give their choice (continue or not to continue) for the Central Government to function in addition to public servants.

In other words, the first two and half years no party can  move a 'no confidence motion'  against the ruling party.

If the mandate of referendum  is in favour  of the  government  then for one more year no party can move a ' No Confidence Motion'.  That means a fair opportunity is given to the largest party for a period of two and half to three and half years to demonstrate their  efficacy of governance 

If the referendum goes against the ruling party, then the Governor will request the ruling party to demonstrate the confidence of the Assembly for continuation of their governance.

This will reduce the election expenses on the exchequer and unruly behavior of vested groups of different political wings.

But, who is to bell the cat,  I mean the politicians ?