So when the president of the local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that is in government announces that 10 MLAs of the opposition Congress made an offer to join the ruling party, it merely draws a smirk, and hardly any outrage, simply because the people have come to expect anything from the political class. A denial by the Congress followed later, but that was expected.
The calculations are spot on. Congress has 15 MLAs in the House, 10 makes it two third of the strength and so the MLAs can avoid having to resign their membership of the House and seek re-election on a different ticket. This is the broad understanding of the anti-defection law, though the law does not merely recognise a two-third group defecting as legal, but also requires that there be a split in the original party. But it is this two-third number that is important, as any attempt to challenge the defection will take its course and a verdict possibly come only at the end of the term.
BJP, however, claims to have turned down the offer of the Congress MLAs to join the governing party, and the decision was taken by the party leadership in New Delhi. According to the BJP State president, the party leadership refused the offer as it is not interested in breaking any party. The BJP is now sitting pretty in Goa, with 17 MLAs and the support of six others, giving it a comfortable majority in the House, and a more than comfortable knowledge that the Congress MLAs are not united, and there are among the latter those who are willing to bolster the numbers of the ruiling party.
Earlier, the Congress State president had alleged that the ruling BJP was luring his party MLAs with offers of cash ranging from Rs 20 crore to Rs 60 crore. This, after one Congress MLA had sought the opinion of his supporters on whether to quit the party and join the BJP, and had later denied this. The fact is that the Congress Legislative Party is at this precise moment deeply divided and the party has little inkling of what its MLAs could do. If the Congress president’s intention, by speaking of the alleged sums of money involved was to pre-empt any defection, it may just have worked.
This exchange of words by the State unit presidents does not edify the parties or their members. It shames both as it exposes the power hungry nature of the persons we elect – the BJP that wants to bolster its strength in the House, and the Congress MLAs who are ready to skip over if the prize is right. The Congress president actually spoke of packages that are on offer, and even detailed them, but of course there is no proof and we have only his word. That, however, emphasise that all the defections are only for the benefit of the politicians, and not for the common man.
Goa has seen many defections, none have been for ideological reason or for lack of agreement on the part of the MLAs regarding the party policies. It is always the carrot of development that is dangled before the eyes of the electorate as the motivation for their changing parties. But politicians are always looking out for their own interests when it comes to defecting. This is obvious when on election they accept plum positions in government or in corporations. Goa is familiar with MLAs changing sides. It happened often in the past, with an MLA even changing sides three times in one term, and it still happens.
