Bhopal, capital city of Madhya Pradesh and Bengaluru, capital city of Karnataka are far off from one another and to be precise, 1,441.9 kilometres away by road on the national highway. Apart from the vast distance they are paradoxically divergent in geography, climate, culture and lifestyle. Yet, when it comes to practising present day politics the so called far off distance just fizzles out to your astonishment.
The Kamalnath led Congress party government in Madhya Pradesh is now at the brink of a disaster, thanks to the 20+ ruling party legislators including six sitting ministers who have resolved to bid adieu to the national party on whose tickets they were elected to the state Assembly.
This change of heart within the ruling party camp for valid reasons whatsoever is no strange phenomenon if you were to recollect similar such developments in Karnataka,just a few months back.
Then 14 Congress and three Janata Dal-Secular(JD-S) Members of Legislative Assembly(MLAs') including a few ministers dashed off to Mumbai in a chartered flight and initially were holed up at a luxury hotel there before changing places.
DK Shivakumar, then a powerful Power Minister in the HD Kumaraswamy led JDS-Congress coalition government gave a try to meet the dissident colleagues at the hotel. In fact, he had booked a suite in the same hotel before boarding a flight to Mumbai.
All said and done, he was prevailed from meeting his party and JD-S colleagues in the hotel despite having made a booking in the same hotel. He wasn't prepared to take it lying down and made all possible efforts to gatecrash with the help of other local party colleagues and workers.
No, nothing came to his rescue. He had planned to have a wash before having his breakfast in the hotel. Since he was physically prevented from entering, forget having a wash, he had to be content in munching whatever came on the way and arranged by local party workers.
He stayed back at the entrance of the hotel hoping to get an opportunity to meet his legislator colleagues after some while. But nothing of that sort happened and instead he was deported from the Mumbai airport by the then Devendra Fadnavis led Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) government, back to Bengaluru meeting none of whom he had intended to.
Now by and large it is the same story with the Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs'. They have been housed in three villas of a private luxury resort and none of the local Congress leaders are allowed to visit them.
On the other hand the disgruntled Madhya Pradesh MLAs' have complained to the state Inspector General of Police(IGP) and Director General of Police(DGP) to provide them security for their safe stay and travel in the state.
They have also claimed that they are on some urgent work here and are on their own. However, they have refused to divulge the important work they have been forced to camp here.
By and large the present political strategy of Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) is nothing else but an replica of their counterparts in Karnataka while dislodging the JDS-Congress alliance government.
Perhaps the law makers of Anti Defection Law never visualised or dreamt of such wholesale defections or desertions. Nor did they formulate any rules or regulations to the power craving legislators having a fancy of quitting the party from which they got elected and contest from the hitherto rival party ticket?
-Manohar Yadavatti
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