oppn parties Turncoats: One Day Here, Next Day There

News Snippets

  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
Turncoats: One Day Here, Next Day There

By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2019-05-02 11:18:39

In this election season, it seems the ticket to contest is supreme and the party or ideology has been thrown to the dogs. The latest to affirm this is Udit Raj, the BJP MP from North West Delhi who promptly joined the Congress on being denied a ticket by his former party. On joining the Congress, Raj said that he always opposed the BJP’s policies. If Raj reflects, that one statement will give him the clue why the BJP dropped him. How can one oppose the policies of the party and still yearn and hope for a ticket? Before him, the high profile Shatrughan Sinha had also left the party after being denied a ticket, as had Navjot Singh Sidhu a year before him.

The BJP is not the only party that is seeing people leaving it over the distribution of tickets. All parties are experiencing this, showing how moral values have replaced self-interest. Previously, when someone was denied a ticket, he or she would accept the decision as a “loyal soldier of the party” and would say that he would work to strengthen the organization. But now the party means nothing, the only thing of value is the ticket to contest.

People are changing parties not for ideology but for self-gain and convenience. Husband and wife (Shatrughan and Poonam Sinha) are joining different parties for the same reason. People like Sidhu and Sinha find nothing wrong in now singing the praises for Rahul Gandhi, who to them was enemy number one and the butt of their jokes even a few months back. Turncoats are shameless and have no morals. Their only interest is their self-interest.

If and when politicians decide to clean up the messy election laws in India, one thinks that this practice of giving instant tickets to turncoats also needs to be looked into. One feels that there should be a gestation period of at least one year before a turncoat can aspire for a ticket from his newly-joined party. That would perhaps instill a sense of propriety in some of those who have no morals.

pic courtesy: forward.com