Embracing the party hoppers : Ethics be damned!
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 21, 2022 -

May not exactly measure up to the understanding of the seller and the buyer being both guilty, but many may see the floodgates being opened up by the BJP to welcome defectors from other political parties, come somewhere near along this line.

Ethics be damned, is the line that one can read in the way in which party hopping has come to underline the run up to the Assembly election.

More may be in line, if the grapevine is to be believed and one may see more defectors embracing the Lotus.

The ingredient seems well prepared to make the coming Assembly election suit the palate of the saffron party, but as is the case, with ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth,’ one cannot help but look at the likely scenario in some Assembly Constituencies.

On January 20, 2022, the BJP extended a hand beyond the open door and helped two defectors join the rank and file of the BJP.

This certainly cannot be membership drive and one can expect more dramas coming from some of these Assembly Constituencies in the coming days.

Such a development can impact on the ‘prospects’ of the others who are ready to land on the turf of the BJP from other political parties.

The latest development has certainly gone beyond the understanding of many intending BJP candidates lining up in each Assembly Constituency and the admission of the sitting AITC MLA of Thanga Assembly Constituency to the BJP, despite the presence of a staunch BJP man, who contested the last Assembly election as a candidate of the saffron party can be said to have thrown the doors wide open where anything can happen.

Same is the case at Kakching Assembly Constituency where the saffron party has thrown open its door to Y Surchandra, who was initially declared elected from the AC on a Congress ticket but was disqualified later paving the way for the BJP candidate of the 2017 polls to become the MLA !

It will be extremely interesting to see the developments in the said two Assembly Constituencies.

Will the BJP candidate of 2017 take kindly to the admission of the MLA from the AITC at Thanga AC into the saffron party, with the election within shaking hands distance ?

How about the sitting MLA of Kakching AC and his supporters ?

Equally interesting would be to see if such party hoppings at this point of time will end with the said two Assembly Constituencies or whether others will follow.

This question is important for remember the Congress has already suspended the sitting MLA of Thangmeiband Assembly Constituency and what the former Congress MLA does in the coming days can only be imagined.

How about the BJP intending candidates from Yaiskul Assembly Constituency ? Like Kakching AC, Yaiskul Constituency too has a present sitting BJP MLA and already a post on Facebook had gone viral some time back on how an intending candidate from the said AC is well placed to be anointed the BJP candidate in the coming Assembly election.

As noted in an earlier commentary here, the BJP certainly will face the issue of too many, and with more admitted to the party’s fold, despite the presence of others who are already BJP members and intending to contest the coming Assembly election as candidates of the saffron party, anything can happen.

If one goes by the defections and the presence of so many intending BJP candidates in different Assembly Constituencies, then one may certainly say that the BJP is the party to watch out for this time.

To put it more clearly, the BJP has never had it so good in Manipur in the past but the question is whether the extremely favourable situation the party finds itself in today is due to its showing here in the last five years or because New Delhi is under the BJP.

This is a question which none of the party hoppers or the State BJP leaders can be expected to answer and the answer to this may just lie somewhere in between.