CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG: Senior BJP legislator and former Cabinet Minister A.L. Hek on Wednesday claimed that some sitting NPP and TMC MLAs from Garo Hills want to join the BJP but do not have the numbers required to avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law. Hek said he had received calls from sitting legislators from Garo Hills belonging to different political parties who were ready to cross over but were unable to do so without the required numbers. His remarks come amid heightened political activity in Meghalaya following the recent entry of eight UDP MLAs into the BJP, raising questions over whether the BJP could attract further defections from rival parties.
Hek said the legislators were ready to join the BJP but were constrained by the anti-defection provisions. "I have received calls from sitting MLAs from Garo Hills, from different political parties, but the issue is they don't have the numbers to defect. They are ready now also, they are ready, but unless and until they don't have the numbers to avoid the anti-defection law, they are ready to come. The sitting MLAs, I am telling you."
Asked about the parties involved, Hek said the legislators were from different political parties, while his remarks appeared to point towards the NPP and TMC, the two parties with MLAs in Garo Hills. "Every political party, irrespective of any particular political party, they have to keep their flocks together, otherwise these flocks (MLAs) are ready. They keep calling us also to join the BJP, but they don't have the numbers. That's why they cannot join because of the anti-defection law."
Hek also warned against prolonged reliance on political power, saying anti-incumbency was an unavoidable feature of electoral politics.
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