A good number of politicians have turned not only party hoppers but also cry babies and eventually turning laughing stocks. No party or politician can lay claims to any ideology or principles. In fact, it is just impossible for any party leader or even political correspondent to remember which politician is associated with which party.

The people are daily watching and reading about senior politicians hopping from one party to the other. They are also watching seasoned politicians crying inconsolably on the grounds that they have to let down their home constituencies to contest from elsewhere, though for political gains.

Take the case of Congress leader Mallikharjun Kharge. The day he filed his nomination from Chitapur reserved constituency, he wept in public. He bid good-bye to Gurmitkal in Gulbarga district, from where he got elected eight times, as it has been dereserved after the delimitation. This Dalit leader shifted to the neighbouring constituency Chitapur. Kharge argued that he did not want to deny an opportunity to a general candidate to contest from Gurmitkal. But what about robbing the opportunity of half a dozen Congress Dalit leaders of Chitapur who were aspiring to contest from their home turf?

Let us take the case of another Congress leader Siddaramaiah. He gave up his home turf Chamundeshwari in Mysore district to contest from Varuna. While addressing the public in Chamundeshwari, he shed tears on the ground that he was moving away from them. It was a conscious decision of Siddaramaiah to contest from Varuna because his home village Siddaramana Hundi, after the delimitation, has fallen under Varuna, which was earlier in Chamundeshwari. So he has made a whole lot of calculations before zeroing in on Varuna. Then why shed tears before bidding bye to the people in Chamundeshwari?

Another hilarious and awful incident was in Malavalli. H D Kumaraswamy shared the dais with his party candidate Dr Annadani at a public meeting. Annadani represented Malavalli in the dissolved Assembly. A section of the people hurled charges at Annadani that he did nothing for the development of the constituency and was all the time spending time in Bangalore. First HDK was miffed. Later tears rolled down HDK’s cheeks. He asked the people to vote for the JD (S) and not for Annadani in Malavalli! In his emotive speech he said he and his father have done a lot to the people. Should the voters of this constituency respond to such appeal?

Now coming to the party hoppers, while the Bahujan Samajawadi Party has become free for all, the BJP and the Congress too have kept their doors wide open for all.

D T Jayakumar all these years was with H D Deve Gowda. Today he is the BSP candidate from Chamundeshwari.

As he refused to take on Siddaramaiah in Varuna, he was shunted out of the JD (S). Jayakumar immediately picked a B form from the BSP. After filing the papers, he told a TV channel that he was not only confident of winning but he was sure of rejoining the JD (S) after the polls!

Some of the senior leaders who joined the BSP recently include Moodalagiriappa, three-time Congress MP from Chitradurga. If you ask the BJP leaders about the new entrants, they say they need to tabulate.

The Congress is also large hearted when it comes to rolling out the red carpet to outsiders. M P Prakash and his eight associates not only joined the Congress a month ago, they also succeeded in becoming party candidates in their choice of constituencies.