|
New
Punjab
BJP chief blasts Akali Dal on Day One
WSN Network
CHANDIGARH: At a
time when the ruling Akali Dal has given a complete go by to the
norms of democracy, it's alliance partner the Bhartiya Janata Party
has proved that it is still much better when it comes to preserving
democratic norms.
The BJP's Punjab
unit this week elected its new state president Ashwani Sharma but
only after consulting the entire top brass of the State unit and
wide consultations among the MLAs and rank and file. The
development was in stark contrast to the way the Akali Dal has been
electing its president and other office bearers.
Clearly, men
like Sukhbir Singh Badal and Prakash Singh Badal who are in the
habit of getting their party to give them all rights to nominate
presidents of SGPC or other office bearers have much to learn from
their alliance partner.
|
Ashwini
Sharma said the BJP expected the Akalis to run the state as alliance
partners in a coalition government and ‘not as a private limited
company’. |
|
Immediately
after the election, the new president of BJP's
Punjab
unit, Ashwani Sharma, went all out to extend an olive branch to his
old rival Transport Minister Master Mohan Lal. This was the making
of a new beginning for Ashwani Sharma and also a signal that unlike
the Akali Dal, the BJP was more keen to take everyone along instead
of becoming a top-heavy party.
As Lal feared
losing his Cabinet berth due to differences within the parry, this
week's coronation of Sharma as the state party president had only
added to his worries, given that the two have long held a poor
equation. Sharma, instead of brushing aside the matter, directly
addressed it, saying "My test is how well I behave with Mohan Lal,
and not how he behaves with me."
Coming after
many complaints that the BJP lost out in the last elections due to
infighting, the latest developments within the BJP's
Punjab
unit signify that the party was in no mood to tolerate discord among
state party leaders.
The Party's star
campaigner and the lone BJP candidate to win a Lok Sabha seat in
Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu, was sidelined by the outgoing state
leadership owing to differences. After Sharma's address that day,
Sidhu remarked, "If Mohan Lal and Ashwani can get along, the entire
party can."
Both Lal and
Sharma were claimants for the party ticket in the 2007 Assembly
elections from the same seat, but Lal emerged as the candidate.
It is important
to remember that it was Ashwani Sharma who had hit out at its ally
Akali Dal for ignoring the party earlier. Even now, immediately
after taking over, his first comment was a direct attack on the
Akali Dal.
Ashwini Sharma
said the BJP expected the Akalis to run the state as alliance
partners in a coalition government and ‘not as a private limited
company’.
The state BJP
held a meeting to discuss the “omission” of the BJP from
advertisement campaigns and the recent “diktat” to DCs by Deputy CM
and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal wherein a list of 40 SAD
leaders was handed out to them to ensure they weren’t ignored in
various areas.
Sharma said the
people of the state have given a mandate in favour of the SAD BJP combine and
any attempt to dilute the alliance amounts to working against the
mandate.
“BJP holds the
prestige of SAD-BJP workers on equal footing. Any attempt to
undermine or differentiate between workers is unacceptable,” he
said. What has hurt the BJP is the selected manner in which BJP
leaders were left out when DC’s were given directions.
10
February 2010
|
Read Also