BJP 'poaching': Congress sounds alert in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan

NEW DELHI: The Congress leadership is on high alert in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, after BJP’s ‘operation poaching’ progressed from Karnataka to Goa. The party’s governments in MP and Rajasthan survive on wafer-thin majority and on outside support of independents and smaller parties. The party has sensed that the BJP leadership is already on a prowl in Madhya Pradesh. Chief minister Kamal Nath, senior leader Digvijaya Singh and others are learnt to be closely watching the reflexes of the rival side and supporting MLAs.

The Nath government is critically dependent on a couple of SP and BSP MLAs and a few independents. In Rajasthan, the Congress government depends on a group around a dozen independents who have extended support on the condition that Gehlot should remain CM. While the Congress state leadership has managed to keep their flock together so far, many feel their challenge would get tougher in the coming days.

The Congress recognises that the style of poaching in Karnataka and Goa has gone beyond typical operations of the past and has displayed the daring extend to which the ‘new BJP’ can go in its ‘unconventional war’ using hitherto unimaginable volume of political ammo and resources. The fact that the majority of Christian MLAs in Goa are now with BJP showcases the lure and reach of BJP in blurring traditional social faultiness. Led by the Gandhis, Congress MPs held a meeting in Parliament on Thursday and coordinated with other opposition parties to hold a combined dharna in front of the Gandhi statue against ‘operation poaching’ in Karnataka and Goa and later raised the matter in the Lok Sabha.