If you have been following the political drama unfolding in Karnataka, you might recognize the state regime for what it is – government of the corrupt, by the corrupt and for the corrupt. It would be hard to make a case that the government is for the people of the state.

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and his Bharatiya Janata Party insist they should be allowed unfettered rights to run their rogue regime not because they are not corrupt but because the parties that accuse them – Congress and Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) are equally, if not more, corrupt. In other words, no politician or party has the right to cast a stone at us, they say.

For long, we have known that there is no politician in the country who can claim the right to cast the first stone, so to speak. Probably not even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, even though he may be above corruption. Now we are bringing an acute form of moral relativism to determine who among the corrupt has the right to cast the first stone, and who does not. So, Congress cannot cast a stone because it sponsors ministers such as Andimuthu Raja of the DMK, who allegedly swindled thousands of crores by giving away valuable 2G spectrum to telecom companies. Gowda’s party cannot because its role has been dubious for decades, not only for its alleged corruption but also for its merciless political exploitation.

So what are people to do? Should the Bellary ministers at the center of the alleged mining scam go? Should the Yeddyurappa government go? After all, it has admitted the existence of illegal mining running into thousands of crores and done precious little to stop it. Or would a mere CBI probe be sufficient?

With the mining scandal adding to widespread state-wide corruption, Karnataka must rank among the worst administered in the country and arguably the most corrupt. Right-wing Hindu activism also is tearing at the state’s diverse society. Surely, this is a huge embarrassment for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which came to power in a southern state for the first time in 2008. In less than two years, Yeddyurappa’s inept leadership has demolished the party’s hopes of building on its strength in the south.

Yeddyurappa and his party won the mandate from the people largely because of the sympathy arising from its betrayal by the previous government led by the JD(S). If polls were held today, the BJP will likely be routed. Unfortunately, there is no real case for president’s rule, and even if there were, the Congress might hesitate to do so because of the potential political backlash. Such a move might just allow the BJP to resurrect itself.

What can the people of Karnataka do?