Why politicians defect

Indian politics wouldn't be a fraction as fascinating if it did not defy any idea that seemed obvious or an answer that began with 'of course'. They would all fail the test of Indian politics

- SHEKHAR GUPTA

The cross-voting and defections in the Rajya Sabha elections in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka raise important questions. What makes politicians stay loyal to a party or leave it? Why do some parties stay together and others split? What's the glue that keeps parties together, and what is it that makes them lose cohesion?

Let's anticipate the obvious answers. First up, of course, it must be power and money that make people stay or leave. It must also be the glue that keeps parties together or the magnet that pulls people away. Sorry to disappoint you, but that isn't true. Because if it were so, why would the Bharatiya Janata National Party in India? It stayed intact even when reduced to two seats compared to the Congress's 414 in 1984.

The BJP rose in 1980 as the new avatar of the original Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS). Even the latter had stayed together through decades in the political wilderness. Between 1947 and 1989, neither this party nor its successor had even a sniff of power at the Centre, barring 28 months in 197779 as a constituent of the Janata Party.

See it this way: The BJS subsumed itself in Janata and all its members dutifully acquiesced. The obvious argument might be, "Of course, they did it for power". But it is flawed. Because soon after power was lost, all Jana Sangh natives regrouped as the BJP. None went to the Congress or floated their own party. The tempting conclusion: Ideology keeps parties together. Now, we shall challenge it.