The art of forming the Govt : Office of the Governor
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 18 2018 -

Governors truly living up to the understanding that they are envoys of the Centre, and so have to act in the interest of the political party which is in power at New Delhi.

Constitutional propriety be damned.

As a message which has gone viral on the social media puts it-Goa (March 2017), Assembly strength-40, Congress-17, BJP-12 and BJP was invited to form the Government by the Governor in a post poll coalition of BJP+MGP+GFP.

Manipur (March 2017), Assembly strength-60, Congress-28, BJP-21. BJP was invited to form Government by the Governor in a post poll coalition.

Meghalaya (March 2018), Assembly strength-60, Congress-21, BJP-2, BJP was invited to form Government in a post poll coalition with NPEP+UDP+ PDF+HSDPDP.

Karnataka (May 2018), Assembly strength-224 (elections held in 222 seats), Congress-78, BJP-104, JD (S)-38.

Congress and JD (S) struck a post poll alliance but BJP invited to form the Government on the basis of being the single largest party and given 15 days time to prove their strength on the floor of the Assembly.

Not surprisingly the fiasco at Karnataka had a reverberating effect with the Manipur Congress now all set to approach the Governor to form the Government on the basis that it emerged the single largest party after the 2017 Assembly elections.

Everyone knows what the response of the Governor will be, but significant to note that the Congress is seeking to deliver a political statement.

Why wasn’t the Congress invited to form the Government in Manipur, even though it emerged the single largest party after the Assembly elections in 2017 is the natural question that follows.

Why wasn’t the Karnataka approach followed in Manipur is the question.

It is not only Manipur but other States such as Goa which has raised this question and while there will be no prizes for guessing how the respective Governors will respond to the claim of the Congress, it nonetheless raises a very pertinent point.

Is the spirt of democracy being compromised at the altar of power politics ?

A look at the reality should give the answer.

It is instances like this which will encourage party hopping, as Manipur is a witness to this and again treading the same path no action has so far been taken up against the party hoppers, thereby defeating the spirit of the stringent anti-defection law, which was ironically passed by the BJP in its first stint in office at New Delhi.

The merry go round continues.

So far it is not clear whether the BJP will sail through the floor test at Karnataka, but the very fact that it has been sworn in should tell an ugly story of how the rule of law can be circumvented in the game of power politics.

The remaining days can surely be stormy and given the fact that power seems to be the be all and end all of the political class and those who are in politics, none can write off the possibility of large scale horse trading.

Fifteen days time is the time limit given to the BJP to cough up the required number of MLAs to form the Government in Karnataka and while anything can happen in the coming few days, it is interesting to see the Congress flexing its muscles across the States.

How this will impact on the coming Parliamentary elections in 2019 remains to be seen.