So the first non-Congress ministry ever in Karnataka has been sworn in. The governor, contrary to fears expressed in certain quarters, has not tried to delay it. The Janata party finally elected Mr. Ramkrishna Hegde as its leader on Sunday. On Monday morning, Mr. Govind Narain requested Mr. Hegde to meet him, invited him to form the government and swore it in by the afternoon. He could not have acted more correctly. Given the fact that the Janata-Ranga combine does not enjoy a clear majority among the newly elected members, the governor had to assure himself that it did in fact command the support it claimed among the other non-Congress(I) groups and individuals. In any case, so long as the Janata-Ranga alliance had not elected its leader, which it did not do till Sunday, there was no one the governor could have called upon to form the government. In any case, this particular problem is over and we can put it behind us.
The more pertinent point is that the new government has begun its career under a number of serious handicaps. The Janata party is not united, as is evident from the tussle over the election of the leader. Indeed, it is not even clear whether the Karnataka Kranti Ranga has or has not merged into the Janata. The Ranga’s president announced the merger last Saturday, but on Sunday Mr. Bangarappa announced that the merger had not taken place. The new government is also dependent on the support of two contradictory forces – the Bharatiya Janata Party on the one hand and the CPI-CPM combine on the other. The new chief minister will need all his skills to keep the two groups in tandem, and as time elapses and the memory of the victory over the Congress (I) recedes, the task can become increasingly difficult. Then there are the independents, proverbially fickle in their loyalties. Mr. Hegde will not need to worry too much about them if his own party remains united and the support of the BJP and the CPI-CPM remains firm. But he needs them in order to enjoy a reasonable margin of safety.
Above all, Mr. Hegde will have to take every care to ensure that his ministry does not meet the same fate as Mr. Gundu Rao’s. The people have rejected the Congress (I) because the impression had spread that the ministers were venal, corrupt and arbitrary. They are going to be vigilant lest the new ministers begin to behave in the same way as did their Congress (I) predecessors. By and large, the Janata belongs to what has come to be known rather derisively as the Congress culture. Its leaders may, therefore, fall quickly and easily for the temptations which will now come their way. It may not appear to be in good taste to say all this at this stage. But the intention is not to malign the Janata, but warn its leaders that they will be under scrutiny by the people and that a lapse on their part from the standards expected of them will bring them retribution.