The deliberation centered around issues such as special economic packages in agriculture and industrial sectors which the party had been demanding from the Centre for long.
There was a time when all Akali Dal meetings used to be held in gurdwaras given the party’s religious background. But Punjab’s deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal changed all that. The party held its three-day vichar sammelan at a five-star hotel in Shimla this week.
So far, all such meetings used to be held in gurdwaras, mostly at the Teja Singh Samudari hall in Amritsar. In fact, several such political conventions were held in the presence of Guru Granth Sahib. But Badal, who took over reigns of the party last year, gave a corporate touch to the meets by hiring over 150 rooms, each costing between Rs15,000 and Rs20,000 per day.
A party spokesperson said Akali Dal members, who attended the meet, footed the bills. Grapevine has it that the convention ended on the second day as many of the participants found staying in a five-star hotel a bit to costly. Instead of the scheduled five sessions, only two were held.
The deliberation centered around issues such as special economic packages in agriculture and industrial sectors which the party had been demanding from the Centre for long. The contentious issue of doing away with subsidies to farmers and backward classes was deliberately not discussed even as finance minister Manpreet Badal suggested a day earlier that subsidies should be stopped to help the state economy improve.
Manpreet, according to party sources, was assured he would be allowed to raise the matter on a different occasion. Punjab offers subsidies worth Rs23,000 crore annually, which has been considered a drag on the state economy for quite some time now.
The Akali leaders, however, served a stern warning to the Centre for taking a unilateral decision to divest the Punjab governor of the responsibility of being the union territory administrator of Chandigarh. The Centre reportedly decided last week that the governor would no more hold the additional charge of the UT administrator, a responsibility given in the mid-eighties when militancy was at its peak.
Describing it as “dangerous for the nation’s stability”, Badal said Punjab would not take the decision lying down and his party would ask chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to take up the matter with prime minister Manmohan Singh and Union home minister P Chidambaram. “Chandigarh was built for Punjab and it will be prudent for the Centre not to take any decision regarding it without consulting Punjab,” Badal said.
Citing the principle of a parent state retaining the capital city, he said there was no rationale behind denying Punjab its legitimate right in this regard. “There has been a totally unjustified delay in transferring the city to Punjab due to the Centre’s apathy,” he said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}