Amidst war of words, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday declared truce and decided to fight the ensuing electoral battle with the BJP as its coalition partners.
SAD’s core committee, in its meeting held on Friday evening, decided that the party would contest the corporation polls, scheduled for December, together with the saffron party, after making it clear that BJP’s top-rung had not come out with any statement against the coalition.
Akali Dal’s move to march forward with the BJP’s support is being seen as its attempt to save the ties, at least for the time being.
The decision also comes at a time when the local leadership of both the parties is indulging in attack and counter-attack. Also, the BJP has been maintaining that it would seek more seats this time for civic polls.
SAD, by taking this decision, seemed to have discounted its alliance partner’s attitude, which is talking in terms of going ‘solo’ for next Assembly polls in Punjab.
SAD’s decision to support INlD for recent Haryana polls while retaining its alliance with BJP in Punjab and at the Centre did not go down well with the BJP. It followed with BJP’s gaining clear majority sans any support at a time when SAD-BJP relationship was at its nadir and the alliance’s future was not just a matter of speculation but also debate.
With a series of wins in its kitty, the saffron brigade become more assertive in Punjab, and has also gone vocal against SAD on many decisions. BJP leaders have started talking tough on various issues related to governance, and has even started asserting more pressure in demanding an equal say in the Government functioning.
Even as the BJP high command had, couple of times, assured that the SAD-BJP alliance would continue, the state’s party leadership did not rule out any possibility of going it all alone in the next Assembly polls.
Even newly-appointed BJP Punjab affairs in-charge Ram Shanker Katheria had also indicated that going solo in 2017 Assembly polls is possible if “Haryana-like situation emerges”.
Cricketer-turned-politician and three-time Amritsar MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, who entered a no-holds-barred match during Haryana polls, had targeted the Badals and the SAD dubbing them as “backstabbers”. His attack was taken forward by his wife, BJP MlA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS), Navjot Kaur Sidhu who has all along been stating to snap ties with the SAD.
As Navjot Kaur entered into a war of words with the SAD CPS Virsa Singh Valtoha over her statement, BJP’s Cabinet Minister Anil Joshi, on the other hand, started another slugfest with SAD’s CPS Inderbir Singh Bolaria over the issue of Amritsar’s development.
If that was not enough, the Amritsar district unit heads of both parties had heated exchange of words, a day before, trading charges of corruption, ‘mafia rule’ against each other.
The issue was discussed exhaustively in Friday’s core committee meeting, and finally it was decided to contest elections to 122 municipal councils and six municipal corporations in alliance with BJP.
For the purpose, the SAD has decided to appoint one observer each for every district, along with that of BJP to decide on seat sharing. “In case the decision was not taken on that level, the senior leadership would intervene,” a senior SAD leader told The Pioneer.
Already, BJP has made clear its intentions of contesting on more seats as compared to its previous share.