CHANDIGARH: Within a few months of coming to power in Punjab, the Akali Dal-BJP alliance has hit rock bottom.
The state BJP is peeved at the “utter contempt” with which the Akali leaders, including chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, have been treating them. National general secretary of the BJP Balbir Punj blamed the Akali Dal for blatantly violating the coalition dharma.
The present crisis of confidence has been triggered ever since the chief minister announced an 11 per cent hike in power rates in urban areas without making the rural people feel the pinch. Punj announced on Monday that the BJP cabinet ministers would abstain from the coming Cabinet meeting in case the increase in power rates was not revised.
Giving a clear message to the Akali Dal, Punj, who was appointed the BJP’s national observer for the state, made it evident that he wanted to protect the “self-esteem” of the BJP at all costs.
He said the Akali Dal was keeping the rural voters in good humour at the cost burdening the urban people, which was not acceptable to the BJP. “The burden of hike in power rates must be shared equally by all segments,” he added.
Ridiculing the lack of “taal-mel” (coordination) between the two parties following “glaring irritants”, Punj quipped that there was only “taal” (orchestration) but no “mel” (harmony) between the two coalition partners. This is the strongest-ever statement given by any senior BJP leader after the formation of the SAD-BJP government in the state in February this year.
The BJP was also annoyed with the Akali Dal for ignoring the claim of Navjot Singh Sidhu, BJP MP from Amritsar, in the Amritsar Development Authority. The strained relations between Sidhu and Akali minister Bikram Singh Majithia has also become a major irritant. CM Parkash Singh Badal, however, dismissed the differences as baseless.
