The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : On horse-trading

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Thursday, May 26, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

On horse-trading

The Bihar Assembly was kept in suspended animation only to facilitate a realignment of political groups. The LJP MLAs' decision to break away and support one of the major blocs was only natural in the given circumstances. To call it horse-trading and dissolve the Assembly is highly arbitrary.

M.M. Kotian,
Bangalore

In these days of coalition governments, supported by parties from outside, horse-trading is inevitable. It is either wholesale (when political parties shift their stance, withdraw or extend support) or retail (when a small group from a party offers to change stance in exchange for ministerial berths and other such considerations). The distinction between the two is so technical that it is discernible only to a habitual offender.

L. Rajaraman,
Thanjavur, T.N.

The dictionary describes horse-trading as negotiation accompanied by mutual concessions and shrewd bargaining.

In this context, can the UPA's decision on Bihar in return for Lalu Prasad's continued support to the Government also not be called horse-trading?

T.V. Rama Rao,
Bangalore

What is the apt term to describe the bargaining undertaken by the DMK and the RJD after elections 2004 with the Congress for plum Ministries in return for their support to the Congress-led Government at the Centre? The UPA is certainly not a government of saints to assume such a high moral ground.

R. Balasubramanian,
Chennai

What is wrong if 80 per cent of a party's elected members rebel against their selfish leader? They at least made an attempt to break the political deadlock.

B.S.S. Rao,
Chennai

Why such a fuss over horse-trading? Is not our electoral politics a sequence of trading, bargaining, adjustments and compromises for a share of the cake, right from the distribution of the party ticket to forming electoral alliances, forging coalitions and forming the Ministry?

We even have group trading and sub-group trading within and among parties for arriving at common minimum programmes (euphemism for compromise-for-power). What is wrong if the trade percolates down to individual levels?

A.N. Lakshmanan,
Coimbatore

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