An opportunistic political experiment in Karnataka, which turned the much-abused word, “secular” on its head, has come to a dramatic end. Except the BJP leaders who are crying hoarse about the “betrayal” of a promise by the JD(S), not many people will shed much tears at the fall of a government whose legitimacy was always under question.

The BJP may have reasons to feel aggrieved that Chief Minster H D Kumaraswamy failed to keep his commitment to hand over chief ministership to B S Yediyurappa as per the agreement entered into, 20 months ago. But to claim, as Yashwant Sinha did, that “it is an insult to the 2004 election mandate in favour of the BJP,” is a wild exaggeration and is in itself an insult to the people’s verdict.

The BJP was no doubt the single largest party after the last assembly election with 79 seats, but it was a good 34 seats short of the majority and could not muster the support of even one additional MLA, including its then ally, JD(U), forcing it to sit in the opposition.

It was only thanks to some shrewd manipulation by Kumaraswamy and Yediyurappa — who were not guided by any principles, but to somehow grab power — that an unholy alliance was struck to gain backdoor entry to the government. In the process, they did a mockery of the Anti Defection Act passed by Parliament, leaving the electorate — supposedly the final arbitrators — completely helpless.

The founder of Janata Dal(S) — ‘S’ standing for secular — H D Deve Gowda, was initially pained by the incongruity of his party aligning with a “communal” outfit. He shot off a letter to the Governor decrying the alliance as “illegal” and “immoral” and vowed to terminate it by initiating disciplinary action against his party MLAs.

If a copy of the same letter had been dispatched to the assembly Speaker, the coalition would have collapsed in no time and Mr Gowda’s secular credentials would have soared. But, there was the small inconvenience of his son heading the government and soon enough, Mr Gowda not only found all manner of justification for its continuance, but became its ardent supporter, guide and mentor.

As for Kumaraswamy, he pleaded ignorance about the words “communal” and “secular,” and claimed that his only objective of coming to power was to take up development works. But with no experience in governance till then, neither Kumaraswamy nor Yediyurappa could offer any direction to the government and it was truly a “headless chicken,” which reeled under competitive politics of the two parties.

Three of its major and laudable initiatives — concessional loans to farmers and the banning of lotteries and the arrack trade — were in fact, a product of competitive politics and not a well thought out policy. When the state faced unprecedented floods recently, making the life miserable for thousands of families, the two coalition partners were merely obsessed with the transfer of power issue.

Still, Kumaraswamy should be credited with demystifying the CM’s post with his village stay and janata darshan programmes and had the potential to emerge as a future leader who could deliver under more favourable circumstances. But, he has clearly besmirched his image by reneging on a commitment and betraying undue hunger for power.

Having enjoyed power for 20 months in the cozy company of the BJP, Kumaraswamy’s sudden volte face now calling the BJP “communal” and hence did not want to transfer power to them, will hardly carry conviction with the people. He has squandered whatever goodwill he had earned and may regret it later.

It appears that Deve Gowda’s renewed interest in national politics and an urgent need to don the secular mask once again have played a role in so crudely terminating the alliance with the BJP. With the Lok Sabha elections in the near future a distinct possibility, Mr Gowda wants to maintain “equi-distance” from the Congress and the BJP.

With the fortunes of both the Congress and the BJP on the wane nationally, Mr Gowda possibly reckons that an alliance of the Third Front and the Left Front will emerge after the next Parliament elections and he wants to prepare the ground for the JD(S) to play an important role in it.

In a long political career spanning five decades, it could be Mr Gowda’s last gamble. But, haven’t the people of Karnataka seen enough of this “master tactician” to fall for his gambit all over again?