M A I N   N E W S

SAD puts off decision on RS nominee
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 22
While the President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, today postponed the decision to select the party’s candidate for the vacant Rajya Sabha seat to May 29, the president of the Punjab unit of the BJP, Mr Brij Lal Rinwa, accompanied by other members of the party’s election committee, left for Delhi this evening to build up pressure from the BJP high command on Mr Badal to allocate the seat to the BJP.

Before leaving for Delhi, Mr Rinwa held a meeting with Mr Badal this morning. Mr Rinwa was accompanied by Mr Balramji Dass Tandon. Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder, a Rajya Sabha member of the SAD, who is said to be a close confidant of Mr Badal, was also present.

Mr Rinwa told TNS immediately after the meeting that Mr Badal’s response was “encouraging”. Though Mr Badal talked about his difficulties in leaving the seat for the BJP, he did not say “no” to Mr Rinwa. The BJP president was hopeful of securing the seat for his party after the meeting. He had also taken up the issue of providing certain benefits to residents of urban areas like lowering of the power, water and sewerage rates and waiving of the house tax on commercial establishments.

Has Mr Badal postponed the decision because of the pressure of the BJP or intense lobbying by various factions within the SAD to secure the seat for their candidates ?

Mr Badal was unable to give any logical reason for postponing the decision. He only said that another meeting of the PAC would be held on May 29 to decide the candidate. Mr Badal said that as a lot of time was available to the party to think over this issue, the decision was deferred. In fact, he claimed that the issue of the Rajya Sabha seat was not discussed at all at today’s meeting. Issues like “Sangat darshan” and the gearing up of the party machinery to increase contact with the people were discussed at the meeting.

However, insiders in the party say that Mr Badal was facing a lot of difficulty in selecting the candidate because of the pressure from various groups within the SAD. Besides, this time the BJP has made a serious bid to secure the seat and Mr Badal would not like to annoy his alliance partner at this stage.

Ducking a volley of questions on his meeting with Mr Rinwa, Mr Badal said that there was nothing special about it. “I often meet senior leaders of the BJP twice or thrice a day”, he said.

Asked whether the seat would be allocated to the BJP, Mr Badal said as the issue was not discussed at the meeting, he would not like to comment. He said his relations with the BJP were not limited to the sharing of seats. “Our relations have very deep roots”, he added.

However, insiders say that Mr Badal is of the opinion that the SAD’s alliance with the BJP is limited to the sharing of state Assembly and Lok Sabha seats. At no stage, had the SAD made a commitment to give share to the BJP in the Rajya Sabha seats. As a goodwill gesture, a seat had earlier been voluntarily given by the SAD to the BJP. Insiders say that the SAD had not asked for any Rajya Sabha seat from the BJP in certain other states where the Akalis have a strong base.

Meanwhile, informed sources said that Mr Rinwa left for Delhi following a telephone call from Mr O.P. Kohli, general secretary of the BJP and in charge of party affairs in Punjab.

Mr Kohli, according to the sources, has arranged a meeting of Mr Rinwa and others with the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, and the party chief, Mr Jana Krishnamurthy, before noon tomorrow. Mr Kohli has also sought appointment from the Prime Minister for Mr Rinwa and others.

Before leaving for Delhi, Mr Rinwa directed Mr Tandon and Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, both senior Ministers and members of the election committee of the BJP, to reach Delhi by tomorrow morning.

Mr Rinwa said that he would urge the party high command to ask Mr Badal to give the seat to the BJP. He said as the BJP had 17 MLAs in the state Assembly, its claim to a second seat of the Rajya Sabha was not unjustified. However, SAD leaders said that if there had been 10 Rajya Sabha seats, the claim of the BJP to the second seat would have been justified. But it was not possible to give two seats to the BJP from a total of seven.