oppn parties Madhya Pradesh Ghar Wapasi: Trouble For BJP

News Snippets

  • For the first time ever, Mukesh Ambani buys a 29% stake in Gautam Adani's Mahan Energen, a subsidiary of Adani Power to source 500MW of electricity from the company's power plant in MP
  • Stocks continue to rise on Thursday - Sensex gains 639 points to 73635 and Nifty 203 points to 22326
  • Golf - Indian Open: 3 Indians at tied 14th as Joost Luiten takes the lead with a wonderful 7-under 65
  • IPL: RR beat DC by 12 runs as Riyan Parag (84 off just 45 balls) shines
  • SP drops two candidates owing allegiance to Azam Khan from Rampur and Moradabad
  • In Assam, a controversy erupted after a picture of UPPL leader Benjamin Basumatary, lying on a stack of Rs 500 notes circulated on social media. UPPL is an ally of the BJP
  • AAP's Jalandhar-West MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joins the BJP. He was the only AAP Lok Sabha MP
  • Supreme Court dismisses Centre's plea to review its 2023 verdict in the PMLA case
  • Close save for passengers as they remain unhurt after the wings of two planes graze at Kolkata airport. Pilots derostered and inquiry ordered by DGCA
  • Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gets notice from the EC as well as the BJP for making ugly remarks about Mamata Banerjee's parentage
  • Sadanand Vasanth Date, who faught terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was awarded the Preisent's Police medal, has been appointed the head of the NIA
  • Centre will borrow Rs 7.5L cr in the first six months of FY25, nearly 50% of the target for the full year
  • 25 stocks, including SBI, will see same day trade settlements from today in the world's fastest settlement mode in both BSE and NSE
  • Stocks recover smartly on Wednesday: Sensex rises 526 points to 72996 and Nifty 118 points to 22123
  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
oppn parties
Madhya Pradesh Ghar Wapasi: Trouble For BJP

By Linus Garg

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

What is happening in Madhya Pradesh? After what happened in Karnataka, there was a buzz that Congress governments in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh will be under pressure. But with two BJP MLAs voting for the Congress on a bill moved by the ruling party, the scenario is just the opposite, at least in MP. Sharad Kol and Narayan Tripathi, who had joined the BJP after leaving the Congress, voted for the Congress's Advocate Protection Act Bill. The bill was drafted 15 years ago as MP lawyers were demanding it but it was never tabled in the 15 years of Shivraj Chouhan's tenure.

The cross-voting by the two members has embarrassed the BJP, especially after BJP leader Gopal Bhargava, who is the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, had boasted that he can bring down the Kamal Nath government any time if the party high command gives the order. Further trouble was expected for the party after the canny Namdeo Das Tyagi, popularly known as 'Computer Baba' revealed that four more BJP legislators were in touch with him to cross over. He said he would bring them under the Congress fold if Kamal Nath gives the go-ahead. Although Tyagi is given to making outrageous claims, as things stand today, this is one thing he could be right about.

The developments in MP should make the BJP review its policy of accepting everyone willing to cross over from other parties. It is true that people like Himanta Biswa Sharma in Assam and Mukul Roy in West Bengal have been assets to the party and have helped it to gain a foothold in states where it had a negligible presence, but they are exceptions. Most other turncoats cannot be relied upon, as the MP developments prove. In West Bengal too, several of those who had crossed over from the Trinamool Congress changed their minds some days later.

The party is banking upon the Congress and JD(S) rebels to form the government in Karnataka. It would be a huge mistake to do so as these turncoats will create more problems for the party rather than solve any. For one, it will create disenchantment in the party if these turncoats are given prominence ahead of those who have spent many years building the party. The party should wait till the bypolls and see if the people elect these turncoats on BJP tickets. The BJP has an ideology that cannot be imbibed in a few days, especially by people bred on the Congress or regional party culture. Other than temporarily weakening the other parties, the indiscriminate acceptance of such turncoats is not going to benefit the BJP. It should think of better ways to strengthen the party rather than doing so by poaching leaders from other parties.