It can’t be tasted or touched. But public opinion is like the wind, an ephemeral, intangible creature. When it moves, you either bow to that superior force. Or get out of the way. Fast.
When the tsunami that was Justice Santosh Hegde's resignation turned a virtual unknown, albeit a cult figure in his own legal fraternity, into the ultimate superhero, celebrated not just at home but countrywide, chief minister B.S.
Yeddyurappa (BSY) knew that his hard-won popularity was at risk of being blown away.
He spent eleven days wringing his hands as the people warmed to their Mr Clean, and the injustice to Justice Hegde built up to a crescendo of hate against venal politicians. BSY's teflon clean image was taking a beating for turning a blind eye to the antics of the cash-rich mine owners of Bellary, the spotlight turning on the Reddy brothers who have, willy-nilly, become synonymous with the mine controversy. That BSY and the Reddy brothers are party colleagues but not on the same side is an open secret. That BSY has tried to distance himself from the Bellary strongmen is no secret either.
But, until the Hegde dirt hit the ceiling, BSY, cornered thus far, had been unable to do much. He maybe chief minister, but it's the Reddy millions — with Sushma Thayi's blessings — that oil the BJP's wheels.
But the winds, they maybe a-changing. BSY's move to halt iron ore exports, and call only for finished products — steel — to be shipped out can only help funnel the ore back into the Rs 36,000 crore steel plant that the Reddys are building indigenously in their district. The Reddy brothers, so long on the other side of the political blanket, will have to come good. No wonder, they're calling him Hegde Almighty!!
—Neena Gopal