The latest news on Karnataka's Political situation

It is business as usual in the political theatre that is India: potential horse-trading; MLAs gone AWOL; politicians probably cooped up in resorts sipping pineapple juice from glasses with little umbrellas in them; middlemen losing their minds but also secretly enjoying feeling important for the moment; and old men, after early morning walks, doing filter coffee rounds outside Lal Bagh, speculating more passionately than any panellist on primetime television – India is ripe for political comedy, and one such instalment is what is underway in Karnataka.

I believe it was Jane Austen who once said “It is a truth universally acknowledged that an MLA in possession of a seat must be in want of a bigger piece of the political pie.” Hence the accusations of horse-trading. Why sit in opposition when you could just as easily sit across from it? One does not know if the Karunaadu came first or the Naataka did, but one can be certain that the two together, like Dosa and Chutney, are a time-honoured double act the likes of which I wish I could say were rare in Indian politics. But you know as well as I do that it is not. And so here we are, once again, with Yeddyurappa and HD Kumaraswamy both answering the question of what they want to be – Yes, Chief Minister.