The Last Resort

In the dictionary, 8220;resort8221; has two meanings: a place for relaxation or recreation; and the act of turning to for aid or relief. In Indian political parlance, there has been a happy marriage of both.

The Pioneer, Haryana

8226; The state became a pioneer in the fine art of defections when a member of the Vidhan Sabha called Gaya Lal changed sides thrice on a single day to lend a new expression to the political lexicon 8212; 8220;Aya Ram, Gaya Ram8221;. Bhajan Lal took this art to new heights. Claiming to hold a 8220;Ph.D in politics8221;, the politician would often boast of his skill to produce a majority when none existed. Three years after he walked into the Congress along with an entire Janata Party legislature group, he lost out to rival Devi Lal in the 1982 Assembly polls. Devi Lal packed off his MLAs to a resort at Parwanoo Himachal Pradesh to prevent poaching. By the time he came to then Governor G D Tapase to stake his claim, Bhajan Lal had managed to win over three deserters from the rival camp. One MLA, Lahchman Singh, scaled down a rainwater pipe from his room to escape the attention of Tau8217;s men keeping a vigil outside.

The NTR saga

8226; Telugu Desam founder N T Rama Rao had the reputation of a belligerent adversary long before he started dressing up in a sari in the manner of 8220;Ardh Narishwar8221;. Then Andhra Governor Ram Lal, disregarding his majority, removed his government and swore in N Bhaskara Rao of the Congress in August 1995. Karnataka Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde came forward to provide hospitality to the 164 MLAs supporting NTR at Dasaprakash Paradise Hotel in Mysore for three weeks. NTR later marched the legislators to Rashtrapati Bhawan. He returned as CM and Ram Lal lost his job.

An insider8217;s job

8226; The BJP was still celebrating its first grand success under Keshubhai Patel in Gujarat when Kapadvanj MP Shankersinh Vaghela suddenly sparked off a revolt by party MLAs in September 1995. Leaving the party struggling with the 8220;Hajuria-Khajuria8221; divide, Vaghela airlifted his MLAs in a chartered plane to Khajuraho. The MLAs were snapped cooling their heels in swimming pools and spas of Hotel Chandela in the land of erotica, while a panicky BJP leadership negotiated a peace deal. Vaghela8217;s efforts bore fruit later and he eventually became the Chief Minister.

The saffron scare

8226; Political temperatures soared in Mumbai in June 2002 as the BJP-Shiv Sena combine, enjoying power at the Centre, decided to take a shot at the Congress-NCP regime headed by Vilasrao Deshmukh. It first targeted the more vulnerable NCP bloc. Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel quickly chartered a plane to Indore to put nearly three dozen MLAs out of bounds of the raiders. Then Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh came forward to play the perfect host. Lodged at a five-star resort, the legislators had the best of everything 8212; gym, spa, health club, video games, electronic darts, bowling alley, basketball and pool games 8212; but were told not to make or take any phone calls. There was a bit of sight-seeing too 8212; like a trip to the famous Mahakaal temple at Ujjain. Their next stop was the Golden Palms Spa, a five-star resort near Bangalore, where more Congress-NCP MLAs joined them. Owned by yesteryear Bollywood star Sanjay Khan, the resort has been designed in the Moorish-Spanish style. The MLAs could avail of sauna and steam rooms, cool off in the swimming pool, work out at the gymnasium, or simply watch television. Eventually Deshmukh sailed through, with a little help from the Speaker.

Here party never ends

8226; Goa may be small, but this is the state where all the political action is. With the Assembly size making every MLA a prized or priced? commodity, the avenues for benefits are endless. One such opportunity came their way in February 2005. BJP Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was required to seek a vote of confidence. A dozen-odd MLAs were packed off to a five-star resort at Porvorim village, close to the state capital Panjim. Perched atop a hillock, The Majestic was just the ideal spot to keep the loyalties of MLAs undisturbed. The in-house Kerala Heritage Ayrvedic Massage Centre did the rest to keep politics off the mind of MLAs. Still wary of poaching, Parrikar later transported them to Jaipur, but in vain. Finally, he lost.