To counter Taksalis, Sukhbir reaching out to sulking elements
WINNING OVER SAD (Taksali) has taken a lead in perception game and a number of disgruntled leaders are in touch with Brahmpura
CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal has lately been reaching out to the disgruntled leaders, who were out of favour during the Badals-led 10-year SAD-BJP rule (2007-17).
Ahead of the parliamentary polls, the move is being seen as an attempt to counter the so-called upsurge of breakaway Taksali faction led by Khaddor Sahib MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura. The splinter faction — SAD (Taksali) — has taken a lead in the perception game and a number of beleaguered Akali leaders are reportedly in touch with Brahmpura.
The Khadoor Sahib MP is hopeful of getting support from traditional Panthic votebank, which has drifted away from SAD after a series of sacrilege incidents in 2015. The message from Sukhbir to the discontented leaders is “bygone is bygone and work for the party in tough times”. But Sukhbir has been facing a tough time soothing them.
On Wednesday, former army chief Gen JJ Singh (retd) joined Brahmpura-led splinter group, and he has shown willingness to take the electoral plunge in the forthcoming polls from a suitable segment.
Sukhbir last week held a oneon-one meeting with former minister Surjeet Singh Kohli and his son former Patiala mayor Ajit Pal Kohli. Grandson of Gurcharan Singh Tohra Harinder Pal Singh also met Sukhbir in Delhi, but his father Harmail Singh, a former minister, and mother Kuldeep Kaur, are not willing to join the fold. The family had joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the 2017 assembly polls.
Former youth Akali Dal president Kiranbir Singh Kang, a onetime close friend of Sukhbir, has joined back the Akali bandwagon and was given a place in party’s political affairs committee (PAC) on Wednesday. Both friends fell off during the first term of the Akali government (2007-12). Other than Kang, a number of other leaders who were not visible during the Akali-bjp government have been inducted into the PAC and given positions in the party hierarchy.
AKALI DAL PRESIDENT LAST WEEK HELD A ONE-ON-ONE MEETING WITH FORMER MINISTER SURJEET SINGH KOHLI AND HIS SON, FORMER PATIALA MAYOR
AJIT PAL KOHLI
ALL EYES ON DHINDSA, PHOOLKA
Former Akali veteran Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who resigned from party’s second senior most post of secretary general last year and recently suggested that SAD president should step down to make things better for the party, is also in touch with Brahmpura, it is learnt.
Also, HS Phoolka, who resigned from the AAP and also as an MLA, is also expected to meet Brahmpura in near future. Brahmpura is trying to rope in both Dhindsa and Phoolka to contest under the umbrella of Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA) — a conglomerate of Sukhpal Khaira-led Punjabi Ekta Party, Bains brothers’ Lok Insaaf Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and SAD (Taksali. PATIALA : Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday said third front has no space in Punjab’s political landscape and the contest will be between their party and the Congress in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
On the sidelines of a workers’ meeting at Balbehra village in the Sanaur assembly segment, Sukhbir said, “The third front will be decimated as the people of the state will never accept them. The political history of the state stands testimony to the fact that the third front failed to leave any mark in politics here.”
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rebel Sukhpal Singh Khaira’s Punjabi Ekta Party, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Lok Insaaf Party of the Bains brothers, SAD (Taksali) and Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi’s Punjab Manch are part of the alliance.
“The AAP tried to project itself as third front in the 2017 assembly elections, but it exploded like a ‘failed human bomb’. The Congress is our main competitor. The security deposit of AAP and third front candidates will be forfeited in the elections,” he said. Over former army chief Gen JJ Singh joining the SAD (Taksali), Sukhbir said people of Patiala know JJ Singh better as he contested from the segment on SAD ticket in 2017. “His joining will not affect us as he will stay there for only two months,” Sukhbir said.
“The Congress government completely failed to meet the promises made at the time the assembly elections. It seems that chief minister Amarinder Singh has no control over his government, as everyone from employees to farmers is waiting for pending dues,” he claimed.