Election time is a season of hope and despair for politicos. This is also time for defections by disgruntled elements. Leading the pack of defectors this time is former Bollywood actor and BJP politician from Bihar, Shatrughan Sinha, after he was denied ticket to contest the Patna Sahib seat he held in Parliament. A former Union minister, Sinha has been through thick and thin, and Prime Minister Modi had little to offer him. Yet, as a parliament member, he still held his head high. Sinha showed his disgust time and again in recent months, and made his presence felt at some prominent Opposition rallies, including one in Chennai and another in Kolkata. This, it turned out, was prescription for more trouble and the BJP quietly denied him the ticket, and Patna Sahib will have Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad fighting it out for the BJP this time.
Last heard is that Sinha will be joining the Congress, and the last shot yet of the shotgun was with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. Sinha found virtue in the leadership that the Nehru family gave to the nation and Rahul Gandhi was happy Sinha’s plight in the BJP ended after all. Notably, two former heavyweights in the BJP, LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, have taken a similar hit from the party, but faced it with a sense of fortitude. Not for them the game of defection. They are made of a sterner stuff. Their days might come, again, if PM Modi and the BJP take a major hit in the coming polls.
The Congress also suffered a jolt in the game of defections. AICC spokesperson and close Sonia aide, Tom Vadakkan abruptly deserted the party and the BJP welcomed him into the party fold with great relish. Vadakkan expected a Lok Sabha ticket from Kerala, something that he had been repeatedly denied in the Congress, but the BJP is also not being generous to him. Another defection that hogged the limelight was that of Jaya Prada, who started with the Telugu Desam in the 1990s, shifted base to the Samajwadi Party later, and was welcomed into the BJP a few days ago. Elsewhere too, pre-poll defections are many, as from the TMC in West Bengal, and rumours are that more are likely. So it is with some other states too! What this reveals is that principles and ideology are things of the past when it comes to parties and politicians.