Former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu expressing deep concern over leaders defecting from one party to another frequently, said that it is a very disturbing trend.
At a meet and greet program held in his residence in Delhi, he was felicitated by Telugu Associations, celebrities and Journalists on Tuesday, after he was awarded Padma Vibhushan by President Droupadi Murmu on Monday evening.
He lamented leaders who quit their parties to join and fight elections for others. “In the morning you are in one party, in the afternoon you join the other one. The next day you get a ticket to fight the election. First, you are praising your new leader and then you abuse your former leader. This is a new trend. You were adoring someone today, you joined the other party and abused the first leader. It is a disturbing trend,”
He said he was not referring to any particular party but “talking in general”.although changing parties was permitted in a democracy, the leader should resign from all posts they received in the party before jumping ship. “I can understand about accusations but using abusive language should be avoided,” Naidu said.
However, he said that he was happy that he had stuck to one party — the BJP— in his political career of five decades.Naidu, who has also served as Union Minister and was the BJP’s national president from 2002 to 2004, said the trend of political parties announcing freebies was an “unhealthy trend”. According to him, parties when announcing schemes should specify how they will fund them.
“People are promising schemes left and right … Paisa kahan hai (where is the money)? They should explain. I am against freebies. I would say only education and health should be free. All other freebies should be discouraged,” he said.
