Amitabh Shukla / Chandigarh
The Akali Dal may be one of the oldest constituents of the National Democratic Alliance along with the Shiv Sena, but with Assembly elections approaching, the posturing of the party has made a section of the BJP take stock of the situation in the run-up to the assembly polls.
Though it could be a friendly banter between the two parties, a mere positioning ahead of the seat sharing talks, the lines have definitely been stretched in two incidents in the last few days.
SAD patron and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal appeared on a public platform with Om Prakash Chautala in Hisar to seek votes for Ajay Chautala, the INLD candidate from the seat. On this seat, Badal’s ally BJP is in a long-term alliance with the Haryana Janhit Congress and not with Chautala’s INLD.
On the proposal of SAD to bring a resolution in the state assembly for mercy to Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, the BJP declared that it did not favour a lenient view to the Khalistani terrorist on a death row. The party has distanced itself from SAD, forcing the ruling party to seek support from its arch-rival Congress for the resolution. Not surprisingly, Congress has rejected it too though it is also in favour of clemency. Badal then had to hurriedly announce that a resolution may not be brought in the last Assembly session of the House beginning Monday.
Political sources say that the posturing of both the parties could be to get the lion’s share in the yet to begin seat sharing talks between the two parties. Delimitation of the assembly segments since the last polls in 2007, has left several gray areas which needs to be sorted out. There are claims and counter claims by both the allies on some seats as delimitation has changed the profile of a large number of constituencies.
In the last assembly polls, the Akalis had contested on 93 seats while BJP contested only on 23 seats. The strike rate of the BJP was stupendous as it won 19 out of those seats while the SAD managed only 49 seats out of 93.
On the decision of Badal to campaign for INLD, Akali leaders say that the Punjab Chief Minister has been a long standing friend of Chaudhary Devi Lal and then his son Om Prakash Chautala and he has always gone there to support the parties headed by them whenever asked for. Moreover, Akalis say that the help of Chautala was crucial for wiping out the challenge of some Haryana Sikh leaders in the recent SGPC elections who wanted a separate Sikh body to run the gurudwaras and religious institutions of the state and were backed by Congress.
The result in the Haryana in favour of SAD has practically ended the challenge of this faction which wanted separate SGPC for the state on the lines of Delhi
The Akalis also do not see much in the stand of BJP on the issue of Bhullar saying that the views of its ally is well-known and this has no bearing on the alliance whatsoever.
But the thaws in seat sharing remain. BJP leaders say that there was no question of accepting lesser number of sets as compared to the 2007 elections and at most what will happen is that some swapping of seats could take place as delimitation has changed some constituencies. Some new constituencies have been carved out while some have ceased to exist. It is understood that the two parties would swap at least three seats among themselves if not more so that the number of seats each party fought last time remains the same.
Fighting anti-incumbency and a political tradition where every five years, the government changes, SAD and BJP leaders say that minor differences does not mean that the larger goal is lost from the view. “The target is now only the assembly polls. We are focussed,” summed up a BJP leader. (October 3, 2011)
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