Hours after Kerala Tourism put out one of the best tweets on Karnataka election results, the tweet was deleted. The tweet from Kerala Tourism's official handle welcomed all MLAs from Karnataka to “unwind at the safe & beautiful resorts of God's Own Country” after the elections.
The tweet had went viral, with Twitterati lauding Kerala Tourism for its tongue-in-cheek humour. It said:
“After the rough and tumble of the #KarnatakaVerdict, we invite all the MLAs to unwind at the safe & beautiful resorts of God's Own Country. #ComeOutAndPlay”
However, the tweet is no longer available.
The tweet was an obvious reference to 'resort politics' by political parties, who have in the past herded their lawmakers to various posh resorts in the country to stop them from defecting during crisis situations.
Recently, the Congress party last year shifted 42 MLAs from Gujarat to a resort in Bengaluru to prevent them from shifting loyalties to the BJP ahead of the Rajya Sabha poll.
In June 2016, Rajasthan BJP MLAs were holed away in a resort in Jaipur ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.
The same month, the Congress in Karnataka whisked away nine independent MLAs to Mumbai, who were expected to back a Congress nominee in the Rajya Sabha polls.
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Interestingly, Karnataka, and especially Bengaluru, has been the stage for the brazen act of realpolitik several times in the past. In 1983, Ramakrishna Hegde had to conceal his MLAs to protect them from the Congress when Indira Gandhi decided to topple the Janata Party government led by him.
Later, Telugu Desam Party chief N.T. Rama Rao sent his legislators to Bengaluru before shepherded them off to New Delhi after he had to face an intra-party revolt. N.T. Rama Rao again faced a similar crisis in 1995 and this time he shifted all MLAs supporting him to the Viceroy Hotel in Hyderabad.
In February 2017, when the AIADMK was threatened by a split after Jayalalithaa's death, the Sasikala camp packed all MLAs supporting it off to the Golden Bay resort near Kalpakkam to prevent them from going over to the O. Panneerselvam faction.
In 2006, Kumaraswamy brought down the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in 2006 by taking his MLAs to a resort in Bengaluru. Interestingly, Kumaraswamy is likely to be the chief minister this time with the support of the Congress if the governor gives his nod to the combine to form the government.
(With inputs from Onmanorama)