Money running India's democracy: Quraishi on MP crisis

Former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi commenting over the Madhya Pradesh crisis, on Thursday, stated that "money is running India's democracy today."

"It has become very clear that it is money which is running India's democracy. Anti-defection laws have proved to be ineffective and ultimately it amounts to fraud on the voters because their mandate gets defeated by this defection game," Quraishi told IANS over the phone.

He further said that such a practice is undemocratic. "Goa, Manipur and Karnataka twice, where majorities were converted into minorities with the game of 'aaya ram gaya raam' and now it is happening in Madhya Pradesh. Here the case is bit different because this time it's not money but the fact that he was annoyed with his party."

The Congress in Madhya Pradesh is witnessing chaos after Scindia's departure, and those leaders, who have any say in the Congress, have also started leaving the party.

Congress state unit secretary Sunil Tiwari has written a letter to party's interim president Sonia Gandhi, saying "some leaders have made the Congress their private institution and when Scindia took up this issue and started objecting in the interests of the party and the workers, he was suppressed." IANS