By Sushil Kutty
Amidst the happenings in Bihar where Nitish Kumar is doing what he does best, i.e., lodge a new government with another coalition partner with himself remaining Chief Minister of the remodelled dispensation, which is more like a reshuffle than an overthrow or a change of government, comes an allegation from none other than Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that “7 AAP MLAs have been threatened and offered Rs 25 crore (each) to topple the Delhi government.”
What is the BJP at, in the ongoing political turmoil, whether it’s behind the crisis to force a regime-change using “Operation Lotus” or is it doing its best to derail, however little or much, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which has been giving the BJP a headache ever since it launched on January 14? And don’t forget the INDI-Alliance of which the Janata Dal-U and the Rashtriya Janata Dal are also a part of. The INDI-Alliance is sworn to defeat the BJP in the ensuing general elections, denying Prime Minister Narendra Modi a third term.
Now, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is going around alleging that some AAP MLAs have been threatened and were offered bribes to topple the Delhi government? Kejriwal is not alone in making such revelations. Over the last 36 hours, there are numerous reports that some of the 19 Congress MLAs of Bihar are in contact with the Bharatiya Janata Party and some of them with the JD-U leadership. The inference is that these Congress MLAs would walk out of the Congress as and when asked to. That is, they are likely to jump ship giving not only the Congress a jolt on the eve of the 2024 general elections but also to the INDI-Alliance, which otherwise also is under considerable strain from BJP machinations.
The question is, are the “threats and offers of bribes” to the 7 AAP MLAs to allegedly topple the Delhi government part of a pattern and a larger plot to destabilize INDIA-Alliance governments given the prevailing political atmosphere in the country, which recently saw the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir? At least, Kejriwal has alleged a conspiracy and has asserted that 7 AAP MLAs were enticed with Rs 25 crore bribe each to break free from the Aam Aadmi Party and join the BJP on the eve of the 2024 general elections. Kejriwal says the BJP plan was to arrest him after a few days and then break the MLAs.
The Delhi Chief Minister posted on ‘X’ that a total of 21 AAP MLAs were targeted and that the BJP was “talking to others also”. He spoke of a bribe of Rs 25 crore and a BJP ticket to contest elections in exchange for toppling the Delhi’s AAP government. “Although they claimed that 21 MLAs have been approached, but as per our information, they has (sic) contacted only seven MLAs so far and all of them have refused (to join the BJP),” the Delhi Chief Minister’s ‘X’ post mentioned, adding that it had nothing to do with the Delhi liquor scam but was a conspiracy to “topple the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi”.
It is common knowledge that the Bharatiya Janata Party doesn’t shy away from using central investigating agencies to topple opposition-ruled states and “Operation Lotus” has been frequently resorted to, to bring about regime changes over the 10 years of Modi rule, starting from Madhya Pradesh. According to politicians in the know, this largely coercive operation invariably involves threats and bribes, which is what Kejriwal has alleged in his ‘X-post’, which adds a degree of authenticity to the Delhi Chief Minister’s allegation.
According to one media, Kejriwal spoke of “many conspiracies to topple his government in the last nine years”. Quite surprisingly, he thanked God and the people who supported AAP for surviving the nine attempts. But while Kejriwal had God on his side, does the Congress also have God Almighty guarding its flock of MLAs in Bihar? Last heard, all the political parties including their JD-U have “corralled” their MLAs from BJP raids. Were the Congress MLAs also “offered bribes and/or threatened”? Like Kejriwal said “these people” know how to break parties and replace governments.
For sure, Nitish Kumar wouldn’t have got the spark of inspiration to break free one more time on his own, he must have had the BJP to help him along with the thought. For, it is difficult to pinpoint a reason or motive which is making Nitish Kumar to take such a drastic step unless it was absolutely necessary? Nitish Kumar cannot be bribed and he cannot be “threatened” like Kejriwal’s “7 MLAs”, so what’s it that is making him a puppet?
What if Nitish Kumar’s target is the INDI-Alliance and some leaders of the alliance, which he “fathered”? On Saturday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the INDI-Alliance without Nitish Kumar is better off. And Kumar hadn’t liked it when Mamata Banerjee suggested Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s name for the “PM face” of the INDIA bloc, which the Bihar Chief Minister did not like one bit. The ongoing “Bihar government crisis” poses a definite threat to the INDI-Alliance and is already wreaking havoc with it, which suits both the BJP as well as Nitish Kumar fine. (IPA Service)
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