Senior Akali leaders Sarwan Singh Phillaur’s resignation from the Cabinet Minister’s post may have little to do with his son’s involvement in the multi-crore drug racket in Punjab.
Indications are that he was asked to step down from the post due to party’s poor performance in his Assembly constituency during the recently-concluded lok Sabha polls.
In Phillaur’s Assembly segment, that comes under Jalandhar lok Sabha constituency, the party bagged 35,962 votes — 12,542 less as compared to Phillaur’s vote count of 48, 484.
The six-time MlA, Phillaur, was not the only one under pressure to quit due to party’s “poor show”, more resignations are expected to follow.
Already, SAD’s ally, BJP’s Minister Anil Joshi has put in his papers owning moral responsibility of the resounding defeat of the BJP stalwart and Rajya Sabha member Arun Jaitley in Amritsar by the hands of former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
For the purpose, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had given Joshi and Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, Majitha MlA, the responsibility of mobilising the people in the north and rural segments of the Amritsar seat, respectively.
As Joshi has submitted his resignation to the State party unit chief Kamal Sharma, who has not yet forwarded the same to the Chief Minister for further action, the Amritsar North MlA still continues to be the Minister.
In Joshi’s segment, Jaitley was polled 44,667 votes, against his vote count during 2012 Assembly polls of 62,374. Jaitley got 60,201 votes in Majitha constituency as compared to the previous figure of 73,944 votes.
Even as Jaitley was a BJP candidate, his loss has brought more embarrassment to the Akali leadership as it was the Badals who had persuaded the senior BJP leader to contest his first lok Sabha polls from Amritsar, in an attempt to do away with sitting MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, with an assurance of “easy win”. Jaitley lost by more than one lakh votes.
Despite bagging highest number of seats, the SAD-BJP alliance is not satisfied with its performance during the parliamentary polls considering the fact that the entire country was swept by the Modi wave, and its own Government was in power in the State. Moreover, it has finished third in three constituencies — Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, and ludhiana.
What made SAD think was that its vote share has come down from 34.73 in 2012 Assembly polls to 26.3 per cent, while its ally has improved its vote share, thanks to Modi wave, from 7.18 per cent to
8.7 per cent in 2014 lok Sabha elections.
What is more, the Akali leadership is also not satisfied with the performance of its leaders of different ranks at the State-level and district-level, with their dwindling vote share as compared to the previous polls in the State.
It is believed that a Cabinet revamping is on the cards once the new Government takes charge in the Centre. Sources confirmed that the Badals are mulling over getting rid of the dead woods from the council of ministers and also among the chief parliamentary secretaries.
A section of party leaders believed that the drug issue has done more damage to the party’s prospects in the polls. As Phillaur has stepped down on moral grounds, the pressure is now building on Majithia, whose name has also surfaced in the multi-crore drug racket — not only from the Opposition, but also from within.
In fact, after Joshi has put in his papers, Majithia was also expected to resign for Jaitley’s loss. Available information suggests that SAD leaders at the state headquarters and district level who has worked hard and contributed in a big way in the electoral battle are likely to be rewarded.
Already, the BJP has given clear indications that it is in favour of changing its Ministers.
As of now, three posts of the Cabinet Ministers are lying vacant. Apart from Phillaur, the two cabinet berths were vacant after Bibi Jagir Kaur and Tota Singh were held convicted by the separate courts of law.
More to the point, SAD is contemplating to overhaul the party by formulating new strategies in an attempt to counterbalance AAP’s growing influence, hat has won four seats in Punjab, despite drawing a blank in the entire country.