New Delhi, 18 June—Is engineering defections in opposition ranks like the current ruling party induced splits in Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and attempt to get Samajwadi Party split not an insult of the country’s electorate?
After all a MP or a MLA gets elected by a voter who puts his stamp of approval by clicking on a party symbol and then the decision of the defector to change his or her party means disrespecting the popular mandate negating the soul of democracy, a concerned cobbler Shyamji told this reporter when asked about the large-scale defection in the opposition parties.
A vegetable vendor Rahul joined in the discussion saying that a MP or an MLA must resign and get re-elected if he or she wants to quit the party on whose symbol he or she was elected by us.
While there is wide spread concern at the grassroot level, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh today zeroed on terming the ruling NDA — ‘National Defectors Alliance’, and asserted that his party’s leadership is in touch with allies to thwart Home Minister Amit Shah’s “nefarious” attempts to muster a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha.
Accusing Shah of launching an “assault on the Constitution and democracy”, Ramesh said the Home Minister suffered a “humiliation” in the Lok Sabha on April 17 this year when he failed in getting the Constitution amendment bill related to delimitation passed, and is now resorting to “dirtiest of tricks” in order to avenge that.
The Congress’ attack came with Shiv Sena (UBT) facing an imminent split.
The writing appeared to be on the wall for Shiv Sena (UBT) as six of its nine Lok Sabha MPs skipped its parliamentary party meeting here on Thursday, signalling that a formal crossover to the ruling Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde may be only a matter of time.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has also weighed in on the escalating political row over alleged defections. On Wednesday Raut alleged that some MPs of the opposition party in Maharashtra were being offered “Rs 50 crore” to switch sides.
Holding a media conference in New Delhi, Raut warned that attempts were underway to replicate the kind of political upheaval that rocked the Shiv Sena in 2022.
“There is no point in contesting elections if parties like TMC and Shiv Sena (UBT) are split,” Raut said.
Also, on Sunday, 20 rebel TMC MPs met Birla and announced their merger with the NCPI, a Tripura-based registered unrecognised political party.
Earlier, Ramesh said that Shah is feeling humiliated as he had assured Prime Minister (Narendra Modi). But because of opposition unity and solidarity, the bill didn’t pass. They got only 298 and they needed 362, if you go by 543 present and voting. So they felt hugely short of the two-thirds majority. And that was a humiliation. It was a setback for him,” Ramesh said, adding the home minister did not expect that.
Shah has started on this massive programme to destabilise opposition parties, he alleged.
“He’s (Shah is), you know, trying to break all opposition parties. But I can assure you that he’s not going to succeed in getting a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha. He’s trying similar tactics in the Rajya Sabha. But ultimately, it’s two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha that matters,” Ramesh said.
The Congress leader claimed that all sorts of incentives are being offered to opposition MPs to defect to the ruling alliance.
“You know, in the mutual fund industry, you offer different products and different schemes catering to the needs of individual investors. So, he’s obviously offering a lot of incentives to individual MPs based on their needs and assessments. But, you know, this is an assault on the Constitution. It’s an assault on democracy,” Ramesh said.
“It is an absolute disgrace that the man who occupies the place that was once occupied by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is indulging in all these dirtiest of tricks in order to avenge the humiliation that he underwent,” the Congress general secretary said.
Asked about Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar’s remarks that a major split in the Samajwadi Party (SP) is on the cards, Ramesh dismissed the comments as “psychological games” that are part of Shah’s strategy.
“He (Shah) is the master of sowing confusion. He is a weapon of mass distortion and disinformation –WMD, in the real sense of the term. So he is trying to create a lot of uncertainty and sow the seeds of dissensions but he is not going to succeed. He can do whatever he wants, he is trying to save his job,” Ramesh alleged.
Veteran Journalist and Political Commentator
