SAD says alliance ‘rock solid’ after Shah meeting
COALITION DHARMA BJP chief meets SAD leaders as part of outreach to allies
CHANDIGARH: Alliance partners Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday signalled there were no discordant notes in their partnership, as both sides affirmed that their commitment to staying allies was “rock solid”. They even announced a six-member coordination committee to work out electoral issues and future strategy.
Soon after his meeting with the SAD leadership, including party patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, BJP chief Amit Shah in a tweet indicated the meeting with the SAD ahead of the crucial 2019 general elections was off to a good start. “It is always a delight to meet Badal Sahab. Met Shri Parkash Singh Badal ji and Shri @officeofssbadal ji at their home in Chandigarh,” he tweeted. Shah’s tweet was in contrast to the one he put out on Wednesday after a closed-door meeting with the Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai, details of which are still under wraps.
The BJP is grappling with the growing echo of discontent from its other allies, such the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RSLP) and the Janata Dal (United). At this juncture, former Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal gave it a helping hand by asking the other alliance partners to bury their differences.
“I would like to appeal to all our allies that this is the time to fight; the battle’s in six months. We should get together and cast away all our differences,” Sukhbir said when asked about the concerns voiced by the Shiv Sena.
Two senior leaders of the party, Rajya Sabha member Balwinder Bhundar and former minister Sikander Maluka, who had earlier accused the BJP of ignoring the SAD in last four years at the Centre, chose not to raise the issue at the meeting with Shah, people aware of the developments said. The SAD leaders who were part of the meeting claimed that Shah came to Chandigarh to take “guidance” from the senior Badal.
“Parkash Singh Badal-ji is country’s most tallest and pious leaders. He is guiding force for the NDA and I have come here to consult him on various issues concerning Centre and the farmers,” Shah told leaders of both parties, according to SAD core group member Bikram Majithia who was also in the meeting.
CHANDIGARH: Minutes before Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah arrived at the MLA flats in Sector 4 to meet Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD leaders criticised the BJP for ignoring the ally on a number of issues on Thursday.
“Be it the issue of justice for the Sikh community for the 1984 riots, or farming, or of employment to Punjab’s youth, BJP has not been fair to SAD leadership,” the party’s core committee member and Rajya Sabha MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder told reporters. He is considered close to Badal Sr. Another senior leader and former minister Sikander Singh Maluka said BJP is “a little late” in coming for talks with its alliance partners.
BJP and SAD are long-time allies; BJP is the junior partner in Punjab, and is the leader of the NDA at the Centre. Sukhbir’s wife, Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, is a minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet.
“It’s good they have decided to listen to the SAD leadership. We welcome Shah and hope that the alliance will do better in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” Maluka, who is also the SAD’s core committee member, further said. SAD secretary general Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who remained a Union minister in the previous NDA regime, said the SAD will raise “all issues concerning the Sikh community and Punjab” with Shah. He preferred not commenting on the alliance.
However, both Bhunder and Maluka did not say anything when leaders of both parties sat for a meeting with Shah. After it, other leaders distanced the party from the statements. “We asked them (Bhunder and Maluka) if they gave such statements. Both felt sorry and said it was an informal discussion with journalists,” said a former minister. “There was no need of such statements,” said another leader who was in the meeting. Maluka said, “My statement was probably taken out of context.” Bhunder was unavailable for comment.
Some leaders in the BJP, however, termed the statements as a strategy of the SAD.
‘ONLY FUTURE, NO DISCUSSION ON PAST’
Even as SAD leadership has expressed concerns about the alliance on various occasions, during the meeting with Shah no such issue was raised reportedly by the SAD leadership. The SAD had opposed BJP on issues such as appointments to the National Commission for Minorities. It had also accused BJP of not taking all NDA partners into confidence on important issues.
“The senior Badal discussed the Vajpayee-Advani era with Shah. But we decided not to raise any contention issue because past is past,” said a core committee member of the SAD who did not want to be named, adding, “When we were ruling Punjab, even BJP’s state unit accused us of not sharing power with them. These are routine political problems. But in this meeting, we planned for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.”
PUSH FOR ‘MODICARE’
Shah, while discussing various issues with the SAD-BJP leadership, claimed that Punjab’s Congress government’s Punjab’s opposition to Ayushman Bharat Yojana, a national health insurance scheme popularly known as Modicare, is “politically motivated”. Those present in the meeting said Shah told the leaders to “expose” the state government on the issue. He claimed the Centre will send its 65% share of the scheme anyhow. “If needed, we may have insurance cards of our own, he said,” Sukhbir said.
Later, addressing BJP workers at the state unit’s office, Shah asked all constituency in-charges to make lists of those who have taken benefit from various governments scheme in the four years of Modi government. “I will again come to you,” he said.