CHANDIGARH: Seemingly buoyed by the recent poll victory in neighbouring Haryana, an aggressive Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has started setting rules of the game for its senior coalition partner Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab.
BJP had been playing second fiddle all these years to SAD in Punjab. The party, however, is in no mood to get dictated any more, following its unprecedented accomplishment in Haryana.
With its new-found confidence, BJP demanded resignation of chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) Avinash Chander from the post since his name had allegedly cropped up in the synthetic drug racket related to dismissed cop Jagdish Bhola. Party National Secretary Tarun Chugh said, “Enforcement Directorate (ED) had summoned Chander. It does not behove a CPS to appear before the ED time and again for his links with people involved in the drug trade, especially when the government claims to be fighting a war against drugs.” Interestingly, he was backed by state BJP President Kamal Sharma. He said, “The CPS should resign for a fair investigation.” The saffron party is further flexing its muscles as it wants more seats in the coming municipal elections in the 128 municipalities. BJP in category A and B cities while SAD has its vote bank in smaller towns. Clearly indicating that the party will not play second fiddle to SAD ahead of the municipal elections, Sharma said, “After delimitation, the number of wards in each municipal body has increased. BJP is strong in category A and B cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Abohar and Fazilka while our alliance partner Akali Dal is strong in the municipal corporation of Bathinda and municipalities of C-category towns. The district-level leaders of the two parties are already discussing the issue. The senior leaders of both parties will meet soon and take the final decision.’’
The state BJP chief said the party is in favour of transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab. “But we want an amicable solution to the river waters dispute. There is no issue that can’t be resolved through talks,” he added.
Not only this. Trying to hijack the Rajiv-Longowal accord from SAD, Sharma said the BJP supported the accord signed in 1985.
Sources said the state BJP leaders have discussed the possibility of the party contesting the Assembly elections on its own in 2017, instead of tying up with SAD. When Sharma was asked whether his party will break its alliance with SAD and contest the 2017 Assembly elections on its own, he said, “We will cross the bridge when we come to it.”
A BJP leader, however, said: “The BJP is now eyeing the space that is being vacated by the comatose Congress in Punjab and that is what is worrying the Akali Dal.’’
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that SAD was and would ever remain an integral part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the future.
He categorically stated that he had dedicated his entire life while struggling to safeguard the interests of Punjab and Punjabis. He added that it was during this struggle that the ties of SAD with the NDA in general and BJP in particular were firmed up. Terming that the SAD-BJP alliance has always stood the test of time, Badal said the SAD-BJP alliance was everlasting and both the parties should not be seen as different from each other. Badal said the relationship between both the alliance partners was very strong, impeccable and cordial because it has been time and again cemented with mutual affection and understanding.