Opposition parties that lost their legislators to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday saw red in the rampant exodus of leaders to the ruling BJP and accused it of violating the essence of democracy.
Two Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislators – Kunal Sarangi and Jai Prakash Patel—defected to the BJP fold on Wednesday. In what appeared to be a face saving exercise, the JMM said that the BJP was collecting garbage from all political parties and the JMM was relieved as its “ailments” were leaving the party. “One of our two MLAs who joined the BJP today was suspended since a long time. The other got a ticket on the basis of his father’s contributions as Guruji’s aide in the Jharkhand Movement. Our ailments are leaving us,” said JMM General Secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya. He accused the BJP of luring legislators from opposition parties to its cadre and practicing “dirty politics” only for gains in the elections. “This is not the first time that the BJP has lured legislators from opposition parties to its fold.
On one hand, it claims to be the largest party in India, and on the other hand, it stoops down to dirty politics to combat scarcity of leaders,” said Bhattacharya, adding that out of the 330 MPs BJP sent to the parliament this year, 188 were not originally BJP workers. Sarangi, who was among the vocal leaders in JMM, won the Baharagora Assembly seat in his first shot at active politics back in 2014. The foreign educated engineer was a staunch critic of the ruling government’s policies on public distribution system and had voiced his concerns over the alleged starvation deaths reported in the State. The JMM on Wednesday said that the 37-year-old leader was given opportunities and important positions by the party as the JMM believes in encouraging the youth to take responsibilities. “When you get more than you deserve in a short period of time, you fail to realize your responsibilities,” Bhattacharya said.
The Jharkhand State Congress Committee (JPCC), which lost a former party president to the BJP on Wednesday, said that the BJP leaders were inviting all tainted leaders to join the party. “Bhanu Pratap Shahi and former DGP DK Pandey have corruption charges against them. I don’t know how the BJP is calling itself a clean party when it’s happily inducting tainted leaders,” said JPCC Spokesperson Shamsher Alam.
Former JPCC president and incumbent Lohardaga legislator, Sukhdeo Bhagat joined the BJP on Wednesday after a year of differences and dilly-dally with his contemporaries in the Congress party.
