First 'resort politics' was in 80s, saw Shawshank-style escape

A game of 'hide and seek' with a pinch of luxury has taken centrestage in Bihar's political circles. This comes just a few days after Jharkhand witnessed the same resort politics.

Sixteen of Bihar's 19 Congress MLAs were flown to Hyderabad due to fear in the party about an attempt to split it before the trust vote scheduled for February 12 in Patna. The Congress is in the Opposition in Bihar now.

Bihar Congress president Akhilesh Singh confirmed that 16 MLAs had been transferred outside the state, with the remaining expected to join shortly.

The Congress was trying to save its flock from being poached after Nitish Kumar joined hands with the BJP to form the government in Bihar.

The 'resort retreat' of the Bihar Congress MLAs coincided with the return of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress and the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) coalition MLAs from Hyderabad, Telangana.

The Jharkhand MLAs returned after spending the weekend in the capital of Telangana, a congress-ruled state, to face the floor test on Monday. The 'resort politics' showed the result as the new Jharkhand government led by Champai Soren won the trust vote.

'RESORT RETREAT' SPILLS OVER TO BIHAR FROM JHARKHAND

The political tussle in Jharkhand and Nitish Kumar changing sides in Bihar has brought forward new instances of 'resort politics' in India.

With increasing challenges to keeping together its flock of elected MLAs from being convinced or paid to change sides or resign, the parties in their capacities look for favourable safe havens to keep their MLAs from being contacted by the opposing parties and ensure loyalty during turbulent times.

This is 'resort politics', probably a phenomenon unique to India, where the lawmakers are confined to a heavily guarded resort, under close watch.

The 'resort politics', becoming increasingly popular in several states of late, is not a new phenomenon. India has seen a handful of such luxurious retreats, ranging from Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Bihar, in the last few years.

Resort politics found its roots in Haryana in 1982, marking the first major instance of such a political manoeuvre in India.

Notably, Haryana is the same state that gave birth to the term 'Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram' in the 1960s, which is often used to define someone who switched sides frequently.

Gaya Ram, a Haryana MLA, who changed sides thrice in a single day in 1967, is the inspiration behind the coinage.

FIRST INSTANCE OF RESORT POLITICS IN INDIA

The first case of resort politics in India in 1982, from Haryana, was in the aftermath of a closely contested Haryana Vidhan Sabha election.

In the election, the Devi Lal-led Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), a regional party, challenged the national powerhouse, the Congress, and emerged as a significant force.

The INLD-Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) coalition won 37 seats, while the Congress secured 36 out of the total 90, neither party had a clear majority.

The then Governor of Haryana, GD Tapase, invited the Congress to form the government, sidelining the INLD-BJP combine, led by Bhajan Lal.

This decision sparked a fierce reaction from Devi Lal, the leader of the INLD-BJP coalition.

As a result, in a bid to safeguard his legislators from being lured away by the Congress, Devi Lal, who wished to come back to power, whisked away a group of 48 MLAs, including members from both the INLD and BJP and a few Independents, to a hotel in Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh's Solan, said senior journalist NP Ullekh in his blog.

The drama intensified when one MLA, Lachman Singh, managed a cinematic escape from the hotel through a rainwater pipe. A scene compared with the escape scene in the iconic 1994 film 'The Shawshank Redemption'.

The 'liberated' MLA went on to join hands with the Congress' Bhajan Lal, who by then had a reputation for engineering coalitions.

As a result, the Congress went on to form the government, with Bhajan Lal taking the oath of the Chief Minister's office in May 1982. Devi Lal, who went on to become India's Deputy Prime Minister in 1989, had to wait years until he became the Chief Minister of Haryana in 1987.

WHEN KARNATAKA SAW RESORT POLITICS IN 1983

Just a year after the Haryana MLAs were corralled in Himachal's Parwanoo, Karnataka witnessed an instance if resort politics.

Later, resort politics would come to become a mainstay of Karnataka politics as the BJP and the Congress locked horns.

Back in 1983, the then Karnataka Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde sent about 80 MLAs of the Janata Party to a luxury resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru to prevent then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from dissolving the Assembly. Ramakrishna Hegde was the first non-Congress chief minister of the state.

In 1995, Gujarat would go on to see resort politics due to the BJP's appointing Keshubhai Patel as the chief minister, which led to Shankersin Vaghela rebelling. Vaghela, along with Atmaram Patel, took above 40 MLAs to a resort in Madhya Pradesh.

The latter decades have dozens of such instances of corralling of lawmakers by various parties.

The resort politics, often utilised, more so criticised, has left an indelible mark on the political playbook of forming governments and pulling them down.