Poaching on as poll season on the horizon but will it yield any results?

However, barring a few cases, party hoppers have failed to make a difference in BJP's real prospects

The poaching game is on once again as poll season sets in. With election activities beginning in all political parties for the Assembly polls next year, parties are vying with each other for desertions from rivals and the biggest worries are for the Congress.

In what could be a fresh poll blues for the main Opposition party, its leaders in election-going states are making a beeline to the BJP. Three poll-bound states Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Punjab have already seen desertions and it seems more are to follow even as past experience shows, barring few cases, party hoppers have failed to make a difference in the poll prospects of BJP in states including West Bengal, where it had poached upon a large number of Trinamool Congress members.

"BJP has perfected the art of blurring the ideological lines. But mass scale desertions prior to polls often boomerangs as it did in Bengal. Winnable leaders or candidates are seldom up for grabs as political parties tend to take care of them," political analyst Rasheed Kidwai told DH.

Also Read | BJP's caste pitch outdoing Mandal parties

BJP had inducted nearly 150 leaders and functionaries including nearly two dozen MLAs from TMC in the state but just a handful could win- the most prominent being Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated Mamata Banerjee and Mukul Roy, who later joined back TMC.

On June 9, BJP inducted a known Brahmin face from Congress — Jitin Prasada — who is all set to be used on a big scale during the election campaign for the state next year, where the BJP is keen to blunt the perceived anger among this particular community against Yogi Adityanath government. While deserting his parent party, Prasada voiced his desperation at "not being able to do anything for his people '' while remaining in Congress, an indication of his lack of faith in Congress' ability to do anything big in the state even during this Assembly poll.

But Prasada had also lost two successive Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019 and also the 2017 UP Assembly polls. Not many believe that Prasada could be a big vote catcher for the BJP, that way.

Kidwai, however, concedes that "there is a slight variation in the result due to poaching of rival political leaders in the northeast where defections have played a role in change of political regimes

Also Read | The importance of being small in UP

On August 1, former Manipur Congress president Govindas Konthoujam joined the BJP, creating an embarrassing moment for the Opposition party ahead of the Assembly polls, as it was nearly set to project him as its CM face since former CM Okram Ibobi Singh is now over 73 and facing a CBI case. Earlier, the second-most prominent leader of Congress N Biren Singh had left the Congress and joined the BJP in 2016 and became Chief Minister from BJP in 2017. Indications have it that more Congress leaders in the state could join the BJP.

In poll-bound Punjab, all parties have got into this game. BJP, on August 2, inducted five former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders including Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia, a former member of Akali Dal's women wing and daughter of former Union minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia.

This was sweet revenge for the ruling party after its oldest ally SAD parted ways from the NDA opposing the passage of the contentious farm bills, which has kicked off a farmer agitation since then, not a good omen for any political party in the agrarian state of Punjab.

On July 25, Congress too inducted 20 BJP leaders, though no prominent ones. In June, the BJP had inducted six prominent personalities from different walks of life.

Check out DH's latest videos: