THE SUICIDAL SAFFRON-GREEN PACT: WHY BJP MUST BREAK FREE FROM THE 'APPA-MAKKALA' PARTY



* B V See

The Karnataka BJP stands at a treacherous crossroads where a single wrong turn could lead to its permanent burial in the Deccan soil. The ongoing alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular) — famously known as the ‘Appa-Makkala’ (Father and Sons) party — is no longer a strategic masterstroke; it has morphed into a slow-poisoning suicide pact. For a party that prides itself on 'Nation First' and 'Internal Democracy,' tethering its soul to a family-run enterprise is not just a tactical error; it is a betrayal of its own cadre.

The most glaring pitfall is the erosion of the BJP’s moral authority. The Prime Minister has consistently campaigned against Parivarvaad (dynastic politics), yet in Karnataka, the party is seen genuflecting before the Deve Gowda clan. By entertaining demands for a Rajya Sabha seat for the centenarian patriarch and reportedly signaling a Chief Ministerial berth for H D Kumaraswamy, the BJP central leadership is effectively declaring its own state leaders incompetent. How can the rank and file, who have fought the JD(S) tooth and nail in the trenches of Old Mysore for decades, now be expected to carry the palanquin of their erstwhile oppressors?

History is a witness to the JD(S)’s pattern of "political opportunism." The BJP seems to have developed a convenient case of amnesia regarding the 2007 betrayal. When Kumaraswamy refused to honor the 20:20 power-sharing agreement and denied the CM post to the BJP, it was a stab in the back that forced a mid-term election. To expect a different outcome now is the height of naivety. Continuing this relationship is like inviting a predator back into the fold and hoping it has turned vegetarian.

This alliance is a death knell for the BJP’s independent growth. In the Vokkaliga heartland, the BJP was steadily gaining ground. By outsourcing its leadership to the JD(S), the party is voluntarily hollowing out its own organizational structure. If the BJP horses are used to pull the JD(S) chariot, the saffron party will eventually lose its legs in the region.

The state leadership and the grassroots workers must rise and oppose this alliance tooth and nail. They must remind the high command that Karnataka’s pride and the BJP’s survival cannot be pawned for a marginal, regional gain. To continue this tie-up is to commit harakiri. The BJP must choose: grow on its own strength or vanish in the shadow of a family dynasty. The burial pit is being dug; it is up to the party workers to refuse to jump in.

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