Bengaluru: Did the media play a role, albeit unknowingly, in helping crisis managers of the Congress party ensure that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy gave in to the demands by the Jarkiholi brothers of Belagavi to save his government? There have been instances in the past where the media has played such a role and it happened again on Tuesday after sources in the Jarkiholi and Siddaramiah camps dropped strong enough hints that 18 Congress MLAs had decided to resign.
The buzz was that there was a plane waiting on the tarmac, for these legislators to go to Mumbai where they would meet top BJP leaders to strike a deal for forming a BJP-led government in Karnataka after toppling the Kumaraswamy government. The fact that Municipal Administration Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi had met Maharashtra CM and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis a few days ago, only served to buttress these reports. Especially after unconfirmed reports persisted that Fadnavis had allegedly agreed to help Mr Jarkiholi in return for the sugar baron pulling down the HDK government.
On Tuesday, the media was tipped off about the waiting plane. Real or imaginary, the CM buckled. Inside reports indicate that the CM, his brother and senior minister H.D. Revanna in an unprecedented meeting with the Jarkiholis, which included reining in Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar may have agreed to stop their practice of arbitrary transfers of officials particularly in a face-saving formula to make sure the coalition government survived.
