Reports over 'resort politics' in Telangana revive memories of alleged MLA poachings

The reports in a section of media that the Congress high command has asked senior party leader and Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar to shift winning candidates in Telangana assembly elections to hotels and resorts has created a stir and has revived memories of famous episodes of alleged horse trading from recent past.

Hyderabad:Ahead of the counting of votes for the assembly elections in five states, reports about the Congress confining its winning MLAs to hotels and resorts to avoid horse-trading has revived the memories of famous incidents of what has now begun to be called as “resort politics”. Senior Karnataka Congress leader and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday denied reports in a section of the media that the Congress high command had asked him to stash winnng Congress candidates in Telangana to hotels and resorts to avoid 'poaching' by rival parties.

Talking to reporters in Bengaluru over the matter, Shivakumar said, "No MLAs will be going anywhere. Nobody has given me a responsibility or called me. I have my own opinion on the poll analysis that is being shown by the media. I am confident that we will win all the states”. The reports on the Congress deciding to shift its winning MLAs to hotels and resorts came close to the heels of various exit polls giving an edge to the Congress in Telangana where counting of votes will be held on Sunday along with four more states-Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram.

Let us have a look at the dramatic episodes of resort politics in recent past.

Maharashtra political crisis: The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government comprising the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Conress were left stunned after Sena leader and present Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the other rebel Sena legislators camped at the Radisson Blu hotel in Guwahati, after having arrived from Surat in Gujarat by a chartered flight.

The resort politics eventually led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray led MVA government as Shinde led a new coalition supported by the BJP. In the November of 2019 too, amid the high political drama of government formation in Maharashtra and threat of ‘poaching’ of MLAs, the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena shifted their legislators to different luxury hotels in Mumbai.

Likewise, to ensure that his MLAs were not won over by the Shiv Sena-BJP opposition in 2002, then Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh packed them off to a luxury resort in Bengaluru, and visited them to make sure they didn’t jump ship. On being asked why the MLAs had been flown to Bangalore if he was so confident of their loyalty, Deshmukh had said it had been done to prevent “street fights” in Mumbai.

GOA: In March 2022, among the results of the five state elections, Goa and Uttarakhand saw a tighter contest as the Congress moved its leaders to a resort in north Goa ahead of the results, saying the leaders were attending “a series of birthday celebrations”. However, the BJP ended up winning 20 of 40 seats in the state and comfortably formed its government again.

Madhya Pradesh: In the March of 2020,17 MLAs loyal to then Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia including six ministers were flown by a chartered flight to Bengaluru in BJP-ruled Karnataka after which the Kamal Nath government collapsed in the central state. BJP's Shivraj Singh Chouhan was sworn in as the CM as Scindia entered the BJP along with his loyalists.

Karnataka, the hub of resort politics:Although herding MLAs to resorts has been done in many States, Karnatakaseems to hold the top spot in the number of times this has been done. Beginning with Ramakrishna Hegde in 1983, who sought to save his government from being dissolved by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, BJP's B.S. Yeddyurappa's name also surfaced in the period between 2009-11, and also in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2012.

During a crucial trust vote in the Assembly, around 80 BJP MLAs were taken away to a luxury resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru and it happened multiple times in the 2009-11 period. In 2017, Karnataka grabbed national headlines when Congress leaders led by DK Shivakumar successfully prevented BJP’s attempts to poach Congress MLAs from Gujarat during the Rajya Sabha elections. The Congress kept 44 MLAs from Gujarat at a resort in Bidadi for nearly a week. In January 2019, ahead of a crucial CLP meeting, Congress had again shifted its MLAs to the resort in Bidadi, fearing poaching by BJP. The Congress, on July 9, 2019, shifted its MLAs from a hotel in the city to a resort on the outskirts, amid fears that some more legislators may resign.

Rajasthan: In the July of 2020, on the heels of a similar rebellion by then Congress MLA Jyotiraditya Scindia that led to the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Madhya Pradesh government four months prior, deputy CM Sachin Pilot showed signs of discontent. The Congress then gathered its MLAs at the Fairmont Hotel in the state to prevent them from defecting.

The MLAs favouring Pilot were themselves in Delhi and they subsequently moved to a resort in a BJP-ruled state. At the end of the episode, there was no change in power, and Gehlot remained the Chief Minister while Pilot was demoted from the post of Deputy Chief Minister.

Gujrat: In 1995, Shankersinh Vaghela rebelled against the BJP leadership with 47 MLAs on his side. Vaghela took them to a high-end hotel in Madhya Pradesh, where they were kept for seven days. Eventually a compromise was worked out and the then Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel was replaced with a Vaghela supporter, Suresh Mehta.

Even this didn’t help as Vaghela, soon after losing his Lok Sabha seat, left the party with his loyalists in tow, bringing down the State government.

Ahmed Patel episode: In August 2017,Congress President Sonia Gandhi's close aide Ahmed Patel was seeking re-election to the Upper House of the Parliament. However, the race became tight after a number of Congress MLAs defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).The Congress accused the BJP of indulging in horse trading. Fearing more defections, the party flew 44 of their MLAs to the Eagleton golf resort in Bangalore.

Ahmed Patel narrowly got re-elected after two Congress MLAs who flashed their ballot papers were disqualified by the Election Commission.

Tamil Nadu:After O. Panneerselvam resigned his Chief Minister-ship in 2017 and accused the then AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala of forcing him to do so; Sasikala took matters into her own hands and sent loyal MLAs to a resort near Chennai. The rebel faction under Panneerselvam and the Sasikala-led Edappadi K. Palaniswami faction eventually joined hands after she was convicted in a disproportionate assets Case.

Uttarakhand: In 2016, after the Congress government in Uttarakhand booted out rebel MLAs, the BJP flew its legislators to a hotel in Jaipur ahead of a confidence vote by former Chief Minister Harish Rawat. A protracted war of words ensued, with the Congress and the BJP accusing each other of horse-trading. The Centre decided to impose President’s Rule in the state, an order that was overturned by the High Court.

The Congress then lost the Assembly elections in 2017

Bihar: In the year 2000, the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal sent their MLAs to a hotel in Patna, afraid that JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar, who had been invited to form the government, would lure their legislators. Kumar was Chief Minister for seven days before he lost the trust vote. In 2005, Lok Janshakti Party MLAs stayed in a hotel in Jamshedpur to provide the JD(U) with the requisite numbers to form a government, with support from the BJP.

Uttar Pradesh:Governor Romesh Bhandari dismissed the Kalyan Singh-led BJP government in 1998 during the Lok Sabha elections, and Jagdambika Pal, who was then with the Congress, was appointed as Chief Minister for 48 hours. Pending a floor test, the BJP flew its members to a secluded place, after which Singh came back and won the confidence vote.

Singh also challenged the Governor’s decision in the Allahabad High Court, and armed with the High Court’s ruling in his favour, he was re-appointed as Chief Minister.

Andhra Pradesh:N. Chandrababu Naidu took a page out of his father-in-law’s rule book in 1995 when he wanted to oust NTR from the party. MLAs loyal to Naidu were sequestered in a Hyderabad hotel until he could pull off a coup and take over the party. N.T. Rama Rao had to go to the U.S. for an open heart surgery in 1984, but in his absence, Governor Thakur Ramlal installed N. Bhaskar Rao as the Chief Minister.

The actor-turned-politician took the TDP’s legislators to a resort in Bengaluru, and then to Delhi. The government in Andhra Pradesh collapsed, NTR took out the TDP equivalent of a 'Rath Yatra', and came back to power in two months, by which time, Indira Gandhi had installed Shankar Dayal Sharma as the State’s Governor.

Haryana:Haryana in 1982 saw the rise of the Indian National Lok Dal, a regional challenger to the Congress. After the elections, despite not having enough seats, Governor G.D. Tapase invited the Congress to form the government, ignoring the INLD-BJP combine. Reportedly, the then-INLD chief Devi Lal grabbed the Governor by his neck for his decision, and promptly took his 48 MLAs, both from the INLD and the BJP, and holed up with them in a hotel in New Delhi.

This didn’t stop a dissenting MLA from escaping, Shawshank Redemption-style, by slithering down a water pipe. The Congress went on to form the government anyway.