He tendered an open apology to Hegde lor the ill-treatment he was subjected to. A routine police enquiry has been ordered. The CM has stated that if his MLA son is proved to have been involved he will make him resign. This was not a particularly auspicious beginning but there are other somewhat disturbing portents as well. Practically every cabinet minister has started making policy statements. The statements are often at variance with one another. There are of course The usual grumblings about allocation of portfolios as also about MLAs not inducted into the ministry. Most disturbing of alt is the government's stand on reservations. It is stated that the government will revert to the government order issued by the Janata government in 1986 which hardly excluded any one. No formal order has been issued as yet. The party has also not covered itself with honour by making C M Ibrahim the president of the state unit. While a chaste speaker in Kannada, Ibrahim has been a figure of controversy and docs not enjoy a high reputation for probity. This is a rather brazen effort to please the Muslims. Deve Gowda is a very hard working person. As PWD minister he was known for his command of his portfolio. He is a leader with a mass base but where he will find himself tested is as a political manager. The vokkaligas and lingayats have established a hold over the party but how long the accommodation between them will last remains to be seen. Equally important is how the Hegde loyalists will act. The one saving grace may be that the ruling party does not enjoy a massive majority. That should prevent the sort of triumphalism which ruins parties which have runaway majorities. It is to be hoped that the new CM and his legislators appreciate this peculiar advantage. All that Deve Gowda has to do is to compare his party's performance during 1983-85 with that during the second phase.