Bangalore in Delhi - editorial - Time

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It is ironic that just as the Janata Dal has suc-
cessfully clawed its way back into national reckoning by
effecting a working arrangement with the Congress on
the common theme of secularism, the man who first
floated the idea has been expelled from the party.
But ideological perpicacity has been the least of Ra-
makrishna Hegde's crimes in the eyes of the JD lead-
ership. A heretic by inclination and temperament,
Hegde has always liked living dangerously. An ur-
bane sophisticate in a party that has traditionally
revelled in earthiness, has problem lay in combining
arrogance with tactlessness. He should have read the
writing on the wall from the day the newlyformed United
Front elected arch-rival H. D. Deve Gowda as its
leader. But he probably calculated that an unstructured
party would always have space to accommodate his dis-
senting voice just as it did when he fumed and fret-
ted over V. P. Singh's turn to Mandal. After all,
homogeneity and discipline have never been hallmarks of
the Dal.

Of course, Hegde miscalculated. He failed to
appreciate the depths of the Prime Minister's emotional
involvement with local poitics in Karnataka. Having
politics in Karnataka. Having grudgingly accommodated
camp follower of Hegde as the Chief Minister of Kar-
nataka, the last thing Gowda wanted was his backyard
to be converted into enemy terriotory. There may not
be too much in the suggestion that the pre-emptive
strike was Gowda's way of managing a possible embarrass-
ment over a pending writ in the Bangalore High Court,
but there is little double that the Prime Minister is
keen to show he is the boss, whether in New Delhi
or Bangalore. The swiftness of the expulsion - coincid-
ing with the UF's honeymoon period at the Centre -
will ansure that opposition to the move is scattered
and ineffective. But Gowda will be making a mistake
in assuming that the last has been heard of a man who
was being touted as a possible "consensus" Prime
Minister only a month ago. Hedge may not have the
numbers, but he has a profound nuisance value. In being
wilfully ruthless, Gowda has taken a grave risk. He has
converted a hostile faction into a fifth column. As long
as the going is good for Gowda in New Delhi, Hegde will
be a bit player on the sidelines. If the mood changes, he
and his group will be first in line to nudge the Prime
Minister over the edge. In Indian blood feuds, the
quality of mercy is unheard of.

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