Hey Karnataka MLAs, Come Over to Our Resorts: Kerala Tourism

With Karnataka facing a stalemate in the aftermath of polls, will the top guns resort to “resort politics” again?

BJP workers celebrating when Karnataka Assembly election results were being calculated and the tweet of Kerala Tourism.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

While the political thriller is still on in Karnataka, and the two main players – the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) and Congress combine – are putting their best foot forward to win the numbers game, there is a looming possibility that the contenders may move on to “resort politics”.

The BJP emerged the single-largest party, winning 104 seats in the Assembly elections. However, it requires just eight seats more to form the government. The Congress and the JD(S), on the other hand, have a combined 116 seats.

However, during this time of political turmoil, Karnataka’s neighbouring state Kerala decided to make good use of the opportunity and promote its resorts.

In a tweet from the official handle of Kerala Tourism, which immediately caught the attention of many, the authorities invited over all the MLAs to the resorts of ‘God Own’s Country’.

An Offer Worth Considering?

Karnataka is not new to “resort politics”. During the 2017 Rajya Sabha elections, as many as 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs were kept in resortvaas, in order to avoid any sort of poaching by other political parties.

But 2017 was not a standalone incident.

It all began in 1984 when actor-turned-politician NT Rama Rao aka NTR went to the United States for a heart surgery. By the time he returned to Andhra Pradesh, the Governor had made someone else the Chief Minister of the then Andhra Pradesh.

A miffed NTR being announced that he would seek a confidence vote in the assembly to prove that he is still the boss.

He didn’t want to risk the opposition bribing his MLAs, so he took all 164 of them – including current AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu – for holiday to a resort in Mysuru.

They returned after three weeks and NTR won that confidence vote and became CM.

Why Are The Resorts In so Much Demand?

The party members are kept under house arrest to avoid being poached by other political parties. But instead of their homes, politicos are holed in luxurious resorts with big pools.

So now when Karnataka faces a stalemate, if Governor Vajubhai Vala invites the single-largest party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, to form the government, a large number of successful candidates may have to spend days confined to resorts – for fear that they may be poached. 

In such a scenario, the JD(S) will closely guard its candidates to prevent any such possibility.

The invite from Kerala tourism might not be such a bad idea, after all?

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