‘We are Ruthless! We will Splurge Money to Win Over Candidates,’ Brags BJP Spokesman S Prakash; EC, HC Must Step in!
‘‘BJP spokesman S. Prakash spoke to me with the brazenness of someone determined to create an impression of super self-confidence: We are ruthless; we will splurge money to win over candidates. We have more money than all the other parties.’’ Such speech does not a victor make. To the contrary, it betrays weakness. Seasoned journalist Saeed Naqvi disclosed this conversation he had with S Prakash, in an opinion piece in Deccan Chronicle on 7th May 2023. The humble and respected journalist was very guarded in his opinion piece as he stated: ‘Will I have egg on my face if, after a three-day trip to Karnataka, I follow my intuition and give the Congress a small advantage’?
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may brush aside Prakash’s talk as an individual or personal opinion and not the party line. But the cat is out of the bag! Prakash is the spokesman of the BJP in Karnataka and not a sanitary pads seller from a small company. It must be taken at face value as the official version even if Prakash denies the statement after the fallout. Not willing to give up power the ’40 per cent commission’ BJP government seems to have lost all hope in the polarizer Narendra Modi to tilt the scales in favour of the BJP. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Is it that riding on Bajrang Bali’s back also did not help the BJP? Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s apprehensions that the BJP will break the Congress were not without any reason. He had asked the people to give 150 seats to the Congress saying clearly that the BJP will lure away some new legislators.
Operation Kamala 2.0 in Karnataka is out in the open as bragged by S Prakash. What is the Election Commission doing to stop horse or donkey trading as you would like to call it? Why are elections beings reduced to a sham in our country? Before the elections, the voters are lured with bribes, wine, and biryani. The BJP has been caught in Kalaburagi distributing money to the voters. It is alleged by some observers that the BJP is distributing huge cash to the voters. Even the street lights are switched off during this exercise as in Kalaburagi. Though a case was registered, will the top culprits be brought to justice? The Election Commission must cancel the candidature of the culprits, whichever party they belong to. Huge sums of money seized during the elections across borders of different states show our inability to conduct free and fair elections. Those bribing voters get bail and cases are forgotten. Is our democracy really vibrant?
The Election Commission (EC) and the Karnataka High Court must step in to stop BJP’s Operation Kamala 2.0 if democracy is to survive in our country. The EC must take undertaking from all the winning candidates that they will not switch over to other parties after winning elections on a different party ticket. Any candidate changing parties in their tenure must be debarred from contesting for 12 years. The Karnataka High Court also must step in and ask the EC to take a legal undertaking from the winning parties not to crossover to other parties during the 5-year tenure. The Karnataka Police must interrogate S Prakash about the likely conspiracy to destabilize democracy in Karnataka. This must be done on national television in the presence of Saeed Naqvi. The truth must prevail!
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