Congress Cabinet politics

Many are surprised by the inclusion of Karnataka former chief minister S. M Krishna in Manmohan Singh's (sorry... Sonia Gandhi's) Cabinet.
The surprise of commoners is not so surprising: it is a natural reaction when an ageing politician who has been out of active politics for the last 5-6 years comes back with a bang. What is surprising, though, is the reaction of some of the political journalists who seemed puzzled by Mr Krishna's inclusion.
There is more to it than meets the surprised eye. It is a very strategic move by the Congress think tank. This is clearly a long-term strategy towards rebuilding the party in Karnataka brick by brick and readying it for the 2013 Assembly elections.
We need to look at the caste equations to find answers for this. The largest community in Karnataka by population, Lingayats have been clearly rallying behind the BJP. It is not the BJP that they are running behind, but a Lingayat in Yeddyurappa. The community deserted the Congress as there were no Lingayat leader worth his salt who could even remotely make it to the top post.
Ponder this: Ever since Veerendra Patil became the chief minister of Karnataka from 1968-71, there have been no Lingayat chief ministers from Congress party (except briefly from 1989-90). Since then, Congress has courted smaller communities (S Bangarappa, Veerappa Moily and Dharam Singh) and Vokkaligas (S M Krishna) as chief ministers.
The Lingayat community was deprived of power (across political parties) with the only exception of J H Patel who ruled the state between 1996-99. J H Patel's stint too was a result of H D Deve Gowda moving to Delhi as the Prime Minister.
In 2008 Assembly elections, when the community saw that a Lingayat (B S Yeddyurappa) has a good chance of becoming a chief minister, it rallied behind the BJP. Perhaps, sensing this, BJP declared him as the official chief ministerial candidate.
The Congress now seems to have realised that Lingayats are going to stick with Yedyurappa for some time to come as he is their best bet. The only hope for Congress if it wants to usurp power in the next assembly elections is Vokkaligas and to some extent Kurubas.
Given that the State politics has always been a fight for power between the two largest communities- Lingayats and Vokkaligas, it is natural that Vokkaligas (who will be out of power for 5 years by 2013) will be itching to be back to the corridors of power.
The Congress calculations may be that Vokkaligas will rally behind Congress if a Vokkaliga (possibly D K Shivakumar) is projected as the chief ministerial candidate for 2013 Assembly elections. The chances are even more if the Vokkaliga community feels that JD(S) will not help them usurp power as it is restricted to a few regions of the State. It needs to be seen, however, what the old fox (H D Deve Gowda) is up to!
In this backdrop, Congress has started wooing the Vokkaliga community in right earnest. Who else could the party look at other than Mr Krishna as he is perhaps the only Vokkaliga leader in Congress who can rally the community behind him.
The Congress' plans would be to let Mr Krishna regroup the party in the State with the help of KPCC Working President D K Shivakumar (who has good equation with the former).
And another strategic move of Congress will be to woo the Kurubas. That will happen with Siddaramaiah being elevated to a key position (mostly Opposition leader) shortly. That should not be a problem considering that he has proved his clout by winning Mysore and Chamarajnagar.
Between all this, Congress will have to do some serious work to woo the scheduled castes. After all, Kharge may not be such a happy man with a Minister of State profile.

Now the jigsaw pieces are falling in place, aren't they?

Back to Hamara Bajaj

No one can take away the credit from Bajaj which transformed itself from a ubiquitous archaic scooter company into a pulsating bike company. At a time when other two-wheeler manufacturers appeared to be under the influence of a sedative thinking that 150cc bike segment is premature in the Indian market, Hamara Bajaj struck like a bolt from the blue with its mean machine- The Pulsar.Pulsar was a game changer. Perhaps, it is one of the most influential launches after the Goliathic Hero Honda Splendor (a brand which has been holding about 40% of market share for over a decade) to hit the market.Pulsar created a ripple in a market hitherto used to 'commuter bikes'. Hamara Bajar very neatly captured the space of 'sport biking' when other myopic auto makers were glued to the 100 cc segment. The job of Bajaj was made easier by Yamaha which gave away on a platter its inherent positioning of 'power bikes' as it mindlessly launched crappy commuter bikes one after the other. God alone (or the top honchos at Yamaha) knows why Yamaha goofed up their positioning so badly.Six to seven years have passed since Bajaj captured the sport bike segment, the game has changed on its head. Bajaj sales are dwindling (more rapidly than the secular downtrend of two-wheeler segment in India). What changed for Bajaj in the last 1-2 years. There are a couple of reaons:A. After a deep slumber, Yamaha wakes up and realises the power bike segment in India rightfully belonged to it. The company decides that it is not meant for the space of commuter bikes but sport bikes. The two-wheeeler giant from Japan rebrands and repositions itself as 'sport biking' . With its decades-long experience in the segment is showing in the refinement and dynamics of its new range of bikes. The bikers in India started lapping up new Yamaha bikes like they once did Rx 100s. If Yamaha has done it, the other bike makers from Japan can't be far behind.B. While Yamaha has reclaimed its numero uno position of sport biking, Bajaj failed to change gears and come out with a new bike. Most of its new bikes have been replicas or alterations of the iconic Pulsar. At the same time, Bajaj could not match its styling with the engine refinement of its Japanese counterparts.The future looks tough for Hamara Bajaj. While Yamaha and possibly Honda will take over the sport bike and super bike segment, Hero Honda and Suzuki will sit pretty on the the commuter bike segment.Unless Bajaj reinvents itself like it did with Pulsar, I am afraid... it will go down like a brakeless scooter down the gravel-filled downhill.