Watch Nidhi Razdan: Opposition leaders joining BJP could hurt the party in long run

Gulf News

Corruption in the opposition ranks and dynasty are the twin planks on which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is attacking the opposition INDIA bloc. And yet on both these issues, the ruling party has no problem welcoming those leaders facing these very allegations into their fold and promptly forgetting the past.  Read the full story here:  https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/is-bjp-prioritising-power-over-principles-by-welcoming-turncoats-1.101643150  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #India #politics

Transcript

00:00The latest opposition leader to join the ranks of the BJP is a Shiv Sena MLA who was once

00:08close to Uddhav Thackeray. It's not surprising since he too was facing a money laundering

00:13probe by the Enforcement Directorate or the ED. That's a pattern we've seen in the last

00:17decade with the BJP. Opposition leaders who are facing pressure from the ED or the CBI

00:22suddenly jump ship to the BJP and all is forgotten. There are so many big examples of this, whether

00:28it is Ajit Pawar in Maharashtra or Ashok Chavan in Maharashtra as well, leaders from the TMC

00:34who have switched sides, others from the Congress who have switched sides. It is now a recurring

00:39pattern that doesn't even surprise anyone anymore. The issue though is that when it

00:44comes to attacking the Opposition India Alliance, the BJP has made the two issues of corruption

00:48and dynasty its main plagues. But on both these issues, it's more than willing to embrace

00:54Politicians from the opposition camp, even if they belong to political families, even

00:58if they're facing serious corruption charges, as long as they're willing to leave the opposition

01:03camp and come to the BJP. How long will the BJP sustain this policy is the question. Because

01:08there have already been murmurs of discomfort in the party in different states where opposition

01:13leaders have suddenly been taken into the fold and also rewarded them with seats or

01:18tickets or ministries or ministerial berths, etc. Right now, that dissent may not be as

01:25much out in the open, but it is building. And the question is whether it's something

01:28that would also sustain with voters over a period of time, because it could bring short

01:33term gains to the BJP, which is seeking to dismantle the opposition. But what does it

01:37do for the BJP's politics in the long run?

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