Mysuru: Just half-way through his five-year term, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, known as a leader with a love for the rustic, is facing the biggest challenge of his decades old political career.
The spiraling number of farmer suicides with at least a few killing themselves every day and his inability to find an all-acceptable solution to end the Lokayukta crisis, have put the CM in an unenviable position.
Mr Siddaramaiah’s incentives and dole-out politics have not worked, at least in the rural heartland where money lenders and middlemen spin in intricate web ensnaring the hapless farmer.
Dozens have taken the easy route out — the easily available can of pesticide or a rope to hang from a nearby tree. With the Congress top brass forced to take note and the JD(S) set to move a no-confidence motion against him on Monday, it will require all of the CM’s persuasive skills and a lot more than oratory to make the party flock stand solidly behind him. On the Lokayukta imbroglio, there are many in the Congress camp who feel it could have been handled better.
With Justice Bhaskar Rao showing no signs of resigning, the needle of suspicion has begun pointing at the government. Has the CM gone soft on the Lokayukta for reasons beyond the public domain? Will we ever know who is protecting whom and why?
