DNA Edit: Holier than thou

After six of its Gujarat assembly MLAs defected, Congress was forced to shift 44 of its MLAs to a hotel in party-ruled Karnataka. This, the party claimed, was to protect its MLAs from the money and muscle power of the BJP. What’s more, the election commission has also been apprised of the same, and has asked the Chief Secretary of Gujarat to furnish a report on these allegations. It has also instructed the state government to ensure proper security facilities are  provided to them.

While the institutional response is welcome, what seems a bit self-righteous is the complaint by Congress to the EC which said that “money power, muscle power and blatant abuse of government machinery for purposes of engineering defection and resignations of INC MLAs” was being practised in Gujarat. Irrespective of whether there is any substance to these charges or not, one does wonder about the origin of these practices, or is it Congress’ argument that horse-trading is a new political stratagem that has come to fore only after 2014? Even in 1978, Congress (I) chief Indira Gandhi was the beneficiary of MLAs deserting Janata Party and switching to her side.

It was Congress in 1967 that first proposed anti-defection measures. They had mooted the law not out of an intent to secure legislative propriety, but because 175 had defected from their camp while 139 had defected to Congress. Presently, members of Congress are free to level charges, but it is the party’s own legacy that is hounding it.