Lucknow: Election time is prospecting time for many politicians, regardless of their experience, affiliation or image. Although switching political sides has been around for decades, uncertainty about one’s political future is surely deeper when it is time to face the people again. In Uttar Pradesh, defections and poaching have become an inevitable part of the pre-election political scenario, and it is no different this year too.
Since February, dozens of leaders big and small have left one party and joined another, and the process has gained momentum as parties brainstorm over finalising candidates for the Lok Sabha election that starts in about three weeks. Of these, more than two dozen leaders from different parties have joined the BJP in the last couple of months. Notable deserters include many former MPs and MLAs, besides party office-bearers.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have formed a coalition to take on the BJP in this election, and now the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is also a part of the alliance. The three parties have cemented a formula according to which SP is contesting 37 seats, BSP 38 seats and RLD three seats. Two seats have been left voluntarily by this coalition for the Congress. Not surprisingly many who have quit the SP and BSP are those who feared they would have been denied party tickets. Also, elements in these two parties nurse unease about joint campaigning for the fear of losing their caste-based support.
In the BJP, the most likely reason for people quitting the party is the indication that the party is considering to drop nearly two dozen sitting MPs this time, based on its own internal assessment about them, people’s feedback and their failure to have performed as per expectations.
A notable recent deserter is Shyama Charan Gupta, BJP MP from Prayagraj (Allahabad). He was first given the SP ticket from Banda and then he announced that he had left the BJP. Incidentally, Gupta, a prominent businessman of Prayagraj, has been in the SP earlier.
The BJP MP from Bahraich Savitribai Phule was among the first to move on, and joined the Congress after more than a year's public expression of displeasure against the BJP. A former MP from SP, Rakesh Sachan, moved to Congress on learning that his constituency Fatehpur Sikri had gone to BSP. A former BSP MP from Sitapur Kaiser Jahan moved to Congress and has now been named as party nominee there. Former BSP MLA Mukul Upadhyaya moved to BJP when he learnt he won’t be given a ticket.
The BSP candidate from Varanasi in 2014 election, Vijay Prakash Jaiswal, joined the BJP after the constituency went to the SP as per the seat-sharing arrangement. Ummed Singh, a prominent BSP leader who served as the party’s media spokesman for a long time, quit the party to join the BJP. Ajay Srivastava, BSP candidate from Lucknow North in the 2017 Assembly election, joined the Congress, spurring 10 more district office-bearers to follow suit. Several office-bearers from some other districts also quit the BSP to move to either the Congress or the BJP.
While the BJP spokesmen keep explaining that their party’s doors are open to all those who subscribe to the party’s ideology, leaders of other parties allege that the BJP is luring leaders with considerations other than a party ticket. Many deserters, too, admit that they have switched loyalties not in the hope of getting a party ticket for the coming election but for ideological reasons.
Such “ideological considerations” generally arise in ambitious politicians’ hearts when elections come close. Some veterans in UP have established records of sorts in switching loyalties, notable being former minister and former MP Naresh Agrawal, who has been in the Congress, Loktantrik Congress, SP, BSP and now is in BJP. Another is Beni Prasad Verma, who has been in SP, went to Congress and is now back in SP.
Interestingly, the pre-poll crossing-over of politicians had gathered momentum during the month of March in 2014 too. At that time also, the trend appeared one-sided as politicians from almost all other parties flocked to the BJP. Party spokesman admitted with confidence that many leaders of both SP and BSP had been in touch with BJP but only those were given the green signal whose names drew consensus among the BJP leaders.
In 2014, it all began with the homecoming of former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh who had quit the BJP and formed his own outfit, but came back to the BJP in Narendra Modi's presence in March. Former Congress MP Jagdambika Pal quit the Congress and eventually contested and won as a BJP candidate from Domariaganj. Others who joined the BJP included Kirti Vardhan Singh, former MP from Gonda belonging to SP, stand-up comedian Raju Srivastava, earlier named SP candidate from Kanpur, BSP MLA from Allahabad Nand Gopal Nandi and his wife Abhilasha, mayor of Allahabad, former SP leader Amar Singh and former MP Jaya Prada who quit the SP to join the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
In later months as the UP Assembly election drew close, the desertions started again. Brajesh Pathak, the then BSP MP from Unnao switched over to BJP in August 2016, Rita Bahuguna Joshi left the Congress after an association of more than two decades to join BJP in October 2016. Both, incidentally, are ministers in the Yogi Adityanath ministry.
As parties keep coming out with their lists in the coming days, more desertions are likely in quest of party tickets. Those who cannot get the desired ticket, always have the option to contest as rebel candidates.
