TOPIC OF THE DAY:-“Bad call: on BJP’s impatience in Karnataka”
The BJP’s Impatience To Return To Power In Karnataka Might Send It Down A Slippery Slope
Failure to win ought to hurt less than outright loss, but try telling that to B.S. Yeddyurappa. Unable to reconcile himself to the failure to wrest Karnataka from the grip of the Congress in last year’s Assembly election, the BJP strongman is adopting desperate measures to get another shot at becoming Chief Minister. The H.D. Kumaraswamy government has now announced the appointment of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to go into the veracity of an audio clip in which someone is heard offering money and ministership to win the support of a Janata Dal (Secular) MLA. Mr. Yeddyurappa has admitted it is his voice in the clip, but claims that it has been edited and doctored. Another BJP leader, Shivanagouda Nayak, was allegedly recorded as having said that the Speaker of the House, K.R. Ramesh Kumar, had been “booked” for ₹50 crore to rule favourably on dissident legislators of the ruling coalition. Unsurprisingly, the BJP is opposing the constitution of the SIT; instead it has called for a judicial inquiry or a probe by a House panel. But since the statements made in the audio recordings allude to transactions that are criminal in nature, law enforcement agencies are better-equipped to uncover the truth. In 2018, the BJP finished as the single largest party, but a post-poll coalition of the Congress and the JD(S) denied Mr. Yeddyurappa the chance to form the government. After being forced to step down in 2011 as Chief Minister in the wake of corruption charges, Mr. Yeddyurappa may have seen the 2018 Assembly election as his chance at political redemption. The prospect of sitting out another five years in the Opposition may have prompted the use of such underhand methods to return to power.
The release of the audio clips shines a light on the Congress and the BJP herding their MLAs intoresorts some weeks ago. Accusations that the BJP was trying to buy up dissidents in the Congress have now gained credence. Seven Congress MLAs and one JD(S) MLA stayed away from the Assembly proceedings, raising the suspicion that the BJP was actively wooing dissidents in both the parties to bring down the government. But BJP leaders are now the victims of their own design, as points of contact have recorded conversations offering money and giving assurancesfor switching sides. The JD(S)-Congress government is by no means a cohesive unit, but the BJP’s covert attempts to engineer defections have certainly backfired. The wiser course for the BJP would have been to politically capitalise on the internal contradictions of the coalition government rather than resort to covert means to destabilise it. Desperate measures are aimed at immediate rewards, but these invariably result in long-term damage. The Congress outsmarted the BJP by cobbling together an opportunistic alliance with the JD(S). The BJP will be better served by time and patience, not money power and corruption.
MEANINGS AND WORDS
1) reconcile
Meaning : restore friendly relations between(v).
Synonyms : appease
Antonyms : agitate
Example : “the king and the archbishop were publicly reconciled”
2) adopting
Meaning : legally take (another’s child) and bring it up as one’s own(v).
Synonyms : accept
Antonyms : deny
Example :”there are many people eager to adopt a baby”
3) desperate
Meaning : feeling or showing a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with(adj).
Synonyms : dangerous
Antonyms : afraid
Example : “a desperate sadness enveloped Ruth”
4) veracity
Meaning :conformity to facts; accuracy(n).
Synonyms : accuracy
Antonyms : deceit
Example : “officials expressed doubts concerning the veracity of the story”
5) claims
Meaning : state or assert that something is the case, typically without providing evidence or proof(v).
Synonyms : allegation
Antonyms : answer
Example : “the Prime Minister claimed that he was concerned about Third World debt”
6) dissident
Meaning : a person who opposes official policy, especially that of an authoritarian state(n).
Synonyms : discordant
Antonyms : agreeing
Example : “a dissident who had been jailed by a military regime”
7) allude
Meaning : suggest or call attention to indirectly; hint at(v).
Synonyms : advert
Antonyms : advertise
Example : “she had a way of alluding to Jean but never saying her name”
8) denied
Meaning : state that one refuses to admit the truth or existence of(v).
Synonyms : oppose
Antonyms : accept
Example : “both firms deny any responsibility for the tragedy”
9) redemption
Meaning : the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil(n).
Synonyms : atonement
Antonyms : incarceration
Example : “God’s plans for the redemption of his world”
10) prompted
Meaning : (of an event or fact) cause or bring about (an action or feeling)(v).
Synonyms : cause
Antonyms : depress
Example : “the violence prompted a wave of refugees to flee the country”
11) herding
Meaning : (with reference to a group of people or animals) move in a group(v).
Synonyms : corral
Antonyms : disperse
Example : “they were herded into a bus”
12) resorts
Meaning : a place that is frequented for holidays or recreation or for a particular purpose.
Synonyms : hideaway
Example : “a seaside resort”
13) credence
Meaning : belief in or acceptance of something as true(n).
Synonyms : assurance
Antonyms : disbelief
Example : “psychoanalysis finds little credence among laymen”
14) dissidents
Meaning : a person who opposes official policy, especially that of an authoritarian state(n).
Synonyms : discordant
Antonyms : agreeing
Example : “a dissident who had been jailed by a military regime”
15) wooing
Meaning : seek the favour, support, or custom of(v).
Synonyms : cultivate
Antonyms : ignore
Example : “pop stars are being wooed by film companies eager to sign them up”
16) assurances
Meaning : a positive declaration intended to give confidence; a promise(n).
Synonyms : affirmation
Antonyms : break
Example : “he gave an assurance that work would begin on Monday”
17) cohesive
Meaning : characterized by or causing cohesion(adj).
Synonyms : adhesive
Antonyms : divided
Example : “each parish was formerly a cohesive unit”
18) covert
Meaning : not openly acknowledged or displayed(adj).
Synonyms : surreptitious
Antonyms : open
Example : “covert operations against the dictatorship”
19) wiser
Meaning : having or showing experience, knowledge, and good judgement(adj).
Synonyms : astute
Antonyms : incautious
Example : “she seems kind and wise”
20) contradictions
Meaning : a combination of statements, ideas, or features which are opposed to one another(n).
Synonyms : difference
Antonyms : accord
Example : “the proposed new system suffers from a set of internal contradictions”
21) destabilise
Meaning : upset the stability of (a region or system); cause unrest or instability in(v).
Synonyms : unhinge
Antonyms : stabilize
Example : “the accused were charged with conspiracy to destabilize the country”
22) cobbling
Meaning : roughly assemble or produce something from available parts or elements.
Synonyms : construct
Antonyms : destroy
Example : “the film was imperfectly cobbled together from two separate stories”
