00:00Joining me on this broadcast now is Nikhil Jain, political consultant and advocate.
00:04We also have Surabhi Hodigeri, spokesperson of the Karnataka BJP.
00:08Thank you both for your time, Nikhil.
00:10I'd like to begin with you because what we're seeing essentially is, you know,
00:13power games non-stop, a merry-go-round, if you will, in Karnataka.
00:17What's stopping the high command, Nikhil, from taking your call?
00:21But let me start with who is the high command for the Congress?
00:25Akshita, I think the high command in the Congress is a collective decision-making body
00:28that consists of the chairperson of the parliamentary board
00:31and former president of the party, Sonia Gandhi,
00:33the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and the former president, Rahul Gandhi.
00:37Also, the president of the party currently
00:39and the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Malik Arjun Kharge,
00:42the general secretary of organisation, KC Venugopal,
00:44and the general secretary in charge for the concerned state,
00:46which in this case would be Randeep Surjawala.
00:48Because I've grown up understanding that high command in the Congress party
00:52is a collective body that represents the national leadership.
00:55And it's not a one-man, you know, one-man show or a two-man show
01:00like in the BJP where it's just Amit Shah and Narendra Modi.
01:02So I feel it's a collective body.
01:04There will be consultations and they would decide how to go forward.
01:07Fair enough.
01:07But the challenge is, Nikhil, where's the consultation?
01:10How many days has this been going on for?
01:12A week plus?
01:13It's been at least a week now of non-stop comments coming in,
01:16you know, all of this bickering, very public statements.
01:19So then why isn't the high command then getting together
01:22and discussing what needs to be done?
01:23Where's the prompt decision?
01:26Akshada, I'm sure that the high command and the leadership of the party
01:29are discussing between themselves.
01:30But these are not things that would be, you know, put out in the media.
01:33And we have the two primary contenders for the post,
01:35the supposed primary contenders, D. Kishiv Kumar and Siddharamaya,
01:38both have come out and said that it is for the high command to decide.
01:41They are putting out everything in the media, by the way.
01:44No, they may be talking about the fact that there are certainly
01:47MLAs from either camps and in fact, multiple camps,
01:50small camps than the two themselves who want their leader to be
01:53the chief minister of the state.
01:54And that's perfectly fine in a democratic party and a democratic setup.
01:57One of my very close friends from Karnataka wants Priyank Khadge
02:00to be the chief minister.
02:01I'm sure there are many who wants BK Hari Prasad.
02:03There is somebody who might want Sati Jhar Kiyoli,
02:05somebody might want Dinesh Kundura.
02:06But that's the point, Nikhil.
02:09That's why it's imperative for the high command to take a pick and say,
02:11look, he is the one.
02:13There's no question of anyone else coming in to be the chief minister.
02:16You can want who you want.
02:18But we have taken our pick and this is it.
02:19And they've not come out with that decision.
02:21Let me also bring in Surabhi right now.
02:23I'll bring in Surabhi, Nikhil, before I give you a chance to respond.
02:26Surabhi, go ahead.
02:27What do you make of what's happening in Karnataka right now?
02:30Look, the Congress says there's a high command.
02:32They will take a decision.
02:33Ultimately, when you look at it, you still have a chief minister.
02:36Sidramaya isn't going anywhere.
02:39You know, the casual attitude with which Nikhil very respectfully explained the situation
02:45was like, it's just another conversation.
02:47It's just something that's happening.
02:49Nothing for us to break our heads about.
02:51Ever since this government came to power, 2.5 years,
02:54this has been like an OTT serial that's been going on and on and on,
02:58taking up media attention, public time.
03:00And worst of all, government ministers' mind space.
03:04It has taken people away from governance, from pressing issues of governance,
03:08and made it into, you know, the Congress Party,
03:11as well as this Congress government's main role has been curtailing factionalism.
03:16Factionalism that has gotten so bad that an RCB stampede happened and people lost their lives
03:21because the CM and DCM could not communicate with each other.
03:24A factionalism that has led to unfair fund release for across Karnataka,
03:30especially accentuating the differences between North Karnataka and South Karnataka.
03:34Governance failure that has led to many infrastructure projects being stopped or halted.
03:39This is the result of factionalism.
03:41This 2.5 years, 2.5 years, November, Karanti, November, Karanti.
03:45That's all we've been speaking about for the last two and a half years.
03:47Nikhil, ultimately...
03:48So, this is not some small decision.
03:50This is not something that we are just, you know,
03:52please, I request you, think about Karnataka as the Bangaloreans,
03:56the Karnataka people who have been having to deal with this lack of decisiveness within the Congress.
04:01Ultimately, from what you're saying, Nikhil, this isn't a good look.
04:04It's not a good look for the Karnataka Congress.
04:06It's not a good look for the government.
04:07It looks like, you know, they've got priorities elsewhere.
04:10Governance is not the top priority because they're busy figuring out, you know,
04:13who should be the chief minister.
04:16Akshita, so my friend from the BJP pointed out that I presented the facts in a manner
04:20as if nothing to do much about it and I was being very nonchalant about it.
04:23I indeed was being nonchalant about it and the simple reason for that is
04:27that whatever infighting or not, whatever Kambazi or not is happening in Karnataka,
04:31the governance is on point.
04:33The government has announced a new IT city to be developed on the outskirts of Bangalore.
04:37Over 115 MOUs have been signed in the past two years, bringing in or at least bringing in a promise of over 6.5 lakh crore worth of investments.
04:45The Grohjoti scheme has been implemented.
04:47Women are being given free bus rides.
04:49A whole number of measures are being taken by the government towards social welfare as well as development and infrastructure.
04:56And that is what a government should be focusing on.
04:58The politicians can keep on fighting about whatever kursi they want, but the government should run.
05:02And in the case of Karnataka, that is running fabulously.
05:04And since I have the pleasure of being, sharing the panel with somebody from the BJP,
05:08might I just ask her, what is the environment minister of the country doing right now
05:11when I am living in a gas chamber in Delhi and Akrita as well?
05:15What is the education minister of the country doing right now
05:17when there are so many paper leaks happening in the country?
05:20Thank you so much.
05:22What happened to the governance there?
05:23Okay, okay.
05:24Surubh, you know, just taking forward what Nikhil is saying, give us examples.
05:27You're saying, you know, there's misgovernance.
05:28Give us examples of it.
05:30Why do you say that?
05:30I appreciate pushing the conversation from Karnataka to Delhi.
05:34That's exactly what the Congress has also been trying to.
05:36Deciding this chief minister of Karnataka, not in Karnataka, but in Delhi.
05:39But the conversation today is about Karnataka.
05:41It's about Bengaluru.
05:42It's about North Karnataka.
05:43It's about Uttar Karnataka.
05:44All of these different regions.
05:46It is not me, Akshita.
05:47It is the Congress MLA's who have come out and said that we are not being given development funds.
05:51It is the Congress MLA's who are accusing the housing minister of having corruption in his own department.
05:57It is the chief minister's economic advisor who said there is a 400 crore sand mining scam.
06:02It is the economic advisor of the chief minister who said that the finance of the state is falling apart.
06:08It's not me.
06:09It's not the BJP.
06:11The fact that, you know, daylight robbery of 7.5 crore happened in Bengaluru just a few days ago.
06:16A decoy incident happened in the middle of Bengaluru and the minister in charge is nowhere to be seen.
06:21He is meeting Naga Saadu, is meeting people in order to get his CM chair confirmed.
06:26This is what the public is saying.
06:28This is not what the BJP is saying.
06:30Look, as an opposition party, it matters very less to me who's going to be the chief minister from the Congress party.
06:36All we ask is that make up your mind.
06:38Decide.
06:39Have you decided on a 2.5 years, 2.5 years?
06:42Nikhil's final response.
06:43It's so what it is.
06:44Let us know who the chief minister is going to be for the next five years.
06:47Let's put an end to this.
06:48Go on with our work.
06:49Nikhil, final response.
06:50Final response.
06:51Why can't the high command pick one leader?
06:54What is the challenge?
06:56I really don't understand that.
06:57It should be forgetting the fact that Karnataka already has a chief minister.
07:01It's not like the state is without a chief minister.
07:03Siddharam is a chief minister.
07:04If indeed there'd be a change in the chief minister, you still have the entire government running.
07:07And I can point, give out a list of 10 different things that the government is doing, right?
07:11I will nowhere claim that there is no crime happening in Karnataka or no scam is happening in Karnataka.
07:15Of course there are.
07:16And they are being tackled.
07:17You mentioned about the RCB stampede.
07:19And do you remember what happened after that?
07:20Heads did roll.
07:21The commissioner was sacked.
07:22Multiple people were taken to task.
07:24An SIT was, not an SIT, but a probe committee was set up.
07:27And all of those actions came into fray.
07:28But what happened when a similar stampede happened in Uttar Pradesh?
07:30The government tried to suppress it.
07:32See, I will nowhere say that any government is running perfectly.
07:34The entire point is that is the government doing enough?
07:37Can they do a better job?
07:38And what I see in Karnataka is that the government is running fairly well enough.
07:42Of course they can do a better job.
07:43But there's always scope for improvement everywhere.
07:46If the tables were turned, Nikhil, and we were seeing this confusion play out in the BJP,
07:51I wonder if you would have been far more critical of what's happening.
07:55On that note, 10 seconds.
07:57On that note, 10 seconds.
07:58And it's very easy to say, Nikhil.
08:0010 seconds.
08:00I'll come to you.
08:01Let's, Surabhi, finish.
08:02I'm making a very fair point, Nikhil.
08:03As an opposition party, I'm saying that, look, it is not my need for me to bother
08:07who becomes a chief minister from the Congress cap.
08:09But as a citizen of Karnataka, as a resident of Bengaluru,
08:12it is absolutely my problem to be stuck between this infighting
08:16and not have access to absolutely good governance.
08:19I'm sorry.
08:19I'm not going to be able to...
08:20Okay, Nikhil, finally.
08:21Final 10 seconds.
08:22Nikhil, let's go to go.
08:22And, Surabhi, I'm glad that you have the space to voice your concern
08:26as a concerned citizen.
08:27And I'm sure you get a good decision.
08:28I will not call you an anti-national or anti-Hindu
08:31for saying D.K. Shiv Kumar was not meeting others.
08:33Why does this conversation have to go to inane places?
08:35I don't understand.
08:35I'll tell you why.
08:36I'll tell you why.
08:37I'll tell you why.
08:38Because this is exactly what I hear from the BJP.
08:40And I will...
08:41Okay, okay.
08:42I'm...
08:42I'm wrapping this up.
08:45I'm wrapping this up.
08:46You've heard from both sides here.
08:48Ultimately, look, chief minister at this point of Karnataka remains Sidra Maya.
08:52But with this constant tussle, is it a good look for the Congress?
08:55Not really.
08:56Because the high command is yet to take a pick.
08:58Sure, it's not one person, as Nikhil says.
09:00Sure, it's a group of leaders, of veterans who have been a part of the Congress.
09:04And yet, there's been no pick, really.
09:06Thanks, Nikhil.
09:07Thanks, Surabhi, for joining us here on this broadcast with your views
09:10of what's really playing out in Karnataka.
09:11I suspect that this is easily going to continue for the next few days as well.
09:15So we look forward to having you in our broadcasts going forward.
09:17We look forward to having you in our broadcasts.
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