Badal meets jathedars
By Sarbjit Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 11 — The reported statement of the SGPC chief, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, calling for a new party chief in place of Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has virtually caused a stir in the Badal camp.

Mr Parkash Singh Badal and his close confidants had a meeting with a group of Jathedars at his official residence late this evening. According to informed party sources, Mr Parkash Singh Badal had a one-to-one meeting with district Jathedars present before having a general discussion about the political developments in the state in general and the Akali Dal in particular.

Sources said that the Secretary-General of the Dal, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Finance Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh and Secretary of the Dal, Mr Kirpal Singh Badungar, and Mr Barjinder Singh Hamdard were present at the Chief Minister's residence when Mr Badal was meeting Jathedars individually.

Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, a Union Minister of State, dashed from the Union Capital to be present in time for this crucial and unannounced party meeting. Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder, a General Secretary of the Dal and a close confidant of the Punjab Chief Minister, was also to join the dinner meeting.

Mr Badal was expected to gauge the mood of the District Jathedars and study their reaction to the statement purportedly made by Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra at Jalandhar yesterday. He is also expected to formulate his political strategy vis a vis the SGPC chief after having a heart-to- heart dialogue with the District Jathedars and other senior party functionaries.

Informed sources said that the Badal camp may come out with a statement based on discussions with the Jathedars and the close confidants of the SAD chief. Though the sources maintained that the number of Jathedars at the meeting was substantial, but it was not immediately known whether all the District Jathedars and office-bearers of the Dal attended the meeting or not.

The informed sources said Mr Badal had summoned the meeting of the District Jathedars in the wake of emerging political scenario in the state. Sources said Jathedars were conveyed about the meeting this morning.

Though mood in the Badal camp was upbeat, the Chief Minister and his close associates were taking no chances as the contents of the reported statement was not only on the party functioning but also the SAD-BJP government in the State. What must be causing worry to the Badal camp is that close confidants of Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra today not only welcomed his statement but also urged Mr Parkash Singh Badal to accept Mr Tohra's advice.

Though the demand for one person one post was being raised in a subtle manner earlier also, the reported statement of Mr Tohra yesterday has now brought the issue into focus.

Rs 350 crore advance for Punjab
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 11 — The Punjab Government today got a reprieve when it was allowed a temporary "ways and means" advance of Rs 350 crore to tide over its financial crisis.

The State had an overdraft of Rs 480 crore, which had crossed the Reserve Bank of India norm of 10 days. Consequently, treasury transactions had come to a halt.

The Principal Secretary, Finance, Mr Rajan Kashyap, said the cheques being issued were now being honoured by the banks.

Meanwhile, in a statement today, the Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, dubbed yesterday's news report in these columns as "totally baseless" that Punjab had gone bankrupt. He regretted that "our transparent and positive initiative in financial management has been ignored and blown out of context".

Mr Kanwaljit Singh claimed that as of today the Government was meeting all its financial commitments and every single cheque issued by the Government "is honoured by the banks". The State had already evaluated the financial situation. A specific "action plan" would be adopted within a week in the light of the final report of a committee of Ministers headed by him.

The current fiscal balance, he said, was caused due to policies followed by respective Governments or under President's rule in the past 15 years or so, which were inconsistent with prudent fiscal management. To face the "inherited legacy", the government resolve was to impose fiscal discipline in expenditure and also to mobilise sufficient resources to meet its commitments for the ambitious development programmes.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Pradesh Congress General Secretary, Mr Avtar Singh Brar, has expressed "deep concern" over the precarious financial state of the Government and blamed the SAD-BJP coalition for the same.

In a signed statement, Mr Brar recalled how the economy was put on a fast track when the Congress was in power in the past five years and how Punjab had received a setback now. Even the statements of the SGPC president, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, and the Akal Takht Jathedar, Bhai Ranjit Singh, were pointers to the failure of the Government.

He has demanded that Mr Parkash Singh Badal should quit.