Hyderabad: On the eve of the Supreme Court’s verdict on Maharashtra’s political drama, MLAs from the anti-BJP front gathered before the media, not before the Governor, at five-star Hotel in north Mumbai to show their strength.
The move was announced hours after the leaders of the 'Maha Vikas Aghadi' of the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, submitted a letter to Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari claiming that they have the requisite numbers to form the state government.
However, this is not the first time MLAs carried out a parade. Let us look at some of the instances of parading MLAs during the conundrum of state government formation.
1984: Andhra Pradesh
In August 1984, while N. T. Rama Rao was away in the US for a heart surgery, his finance minister N Bhaskara Rao had led a revolt with the Congress’s help. From his hospital bed, NTR had ensured that a majority of the Telugu Desam Party MLAs (at least 160 out of 201) were shepherded by Naidu to his Ramakrishna Studios at Hyderabad’s Golconda Junction. They were there till NTR returned, six days later. After NTR arrived, the MLAs were taken to New Delhi in a train and paraded in front of President Giani Zail Singh.
2005: Jharkhand
The NDA paraded 41 of its MLAs before Kalam after governor Syed Sibtey Razi ignored its claims to form the government as the largest pre-poll alliance and gifted the Ranchi crown to the Congress-JMM team instead.
2007: Karnataka
The BJP-JDS combine in Karnataka paraded 129 MLAs before Governor Rameshwar Thakur in support of its claim to form a Government in the state.
2015: Bihar
Nitish Kumar paraded MLAs of the Janata Dal (United), RJD, Congress and the Left before President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi as evidence of his majority in the Bihar assembly.
2016: Uttarakhand
Rawat was ousted from the office on 26.03.2016, less than 24 hours before he was to prove his majority on the floor of the Uttarakhand assembly on the next day. In a show that he still commanded majority in the House, Rawat led a delegation of 34 MLAs to the Raj Bhawan and paraded them before the Governor. These included six independents who have come together under the banner of Progressive Democratic Front and BJP dissident MLA Bhim Lal Arya from Ghansali.
2016: Arunachal Pradesh
A BJP government was installed in Arunachal Pradesh after 33, out of 43 Peoples' Party of Arunachal (PPA) MLAs led by Chief Minister Pema Khandu, joined the saffron brigade in this politically fragile state. Khandu paraded the MLAs before Assembly Speaker Tenzing Norbu Thongdok who accepted their joining.
2019: Sikkim
The BJP paraded the 10 MLAs of the SDF before the media at the party headquarters in New Delhi. Some suggested a reunion of old allies.
The BJP has emerged as the principal Opposition in Sikkim — without winning a single seat in the Assembly elections and unable to bag more than 1.62 per cent of the votes cast.
The overnight change of fortunes was brought about by the switchover of 10 of the 13 MLAs of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) to the BJP.
In the Assembly elections held in April this year, the then ruling SDF was defeated by the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), headed by P.S. Tamang, who is known as Golay. The SKM won 17 of the 32 seats in the Assembly. Barring Pawan Chamling, the SDF supremo and the longest serving chief minister of the hill state, and two other MLAs, all other elected members of the party joined the BJP.
