M A I N   N E W S

SAD rakes up Anandpur resolution
Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

Baba Bakala (Amritsar), August 4
The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal today raked up the issues of the Anandpur Sahib resolution, Delhi riots and Operation Bluestar with an eye on the forthcoming elections at its conference here on the occasion of “Rakhar Punnia”.

Leaders of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal and the SAD (Amritsar) also made speeches, virtually converting their conferences into pre-election rallies.

While Mr Amarinder Singh, President, PPCC, announced that the Congress would constitute a judicial commission headed by a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court if voted to power, the SHSAD and the SAD (Amritsar) passed a resolution on the release of all Sikh youths languishing in jails.

The SHSAD and the SAD (Amritsar) which held a joint political conference, however, failed to float the “Sanjha Panthic front” as announced earlier. Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, President, SHSAD, said the front would be announced in the next 10 days as the CPI, the CPM and the BSP and other like-minded parties had yet to give formal consent in this regard.

However, it was after a long time that Mr Tohra and Mr Mann addressed from a common plat- form. The joint conferences resolved to contest all 117 Assembly seats. The leaders of both parties announced that Mr Ravi Inder Singh would be the next Chief Minister if voted to power. The ‘Panthic front’ would also endeavour to end ‘police raj’.

The leadership of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal touched upon the issue of forging complete Panthic unity in the wake of the next Assembly elections. Mr Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Senior Vice-President and Cooperation Minister, said the doors for Panthic unity were open, but this could not be done on conditions.

Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder, General Secretary of the SAD, and Rajya Sabha member while mentioning the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, said the SAD was the first political party in the country to raise the issue of greater autonomy for states and amendment of the Constitution. He said when the SAD raised this issue in the eighties, it was said the Akalis wanted a separate Sikh state. However, when the SAD-BJP government sent the Anandpur Sahib resolution to the Constitutional Review Committee, no party raised its voice against it as “everybody now wants more autonomy for the states.”

A major part of the speech of Mr Parkash Singh Badal was devoted to wooing voters in the wake of the next Assembly elections. He said he may have made some mistakes but the voter ought to ignore the same for the sake of “permanent peace and tranquility”. He, however, sounded a note of caution asking the voters to keep in mind that the Vajpayee-led NDA government would run for another three years and in case the Opposition formed government in Punjab, “Punjabis are bound to face precarious economic conditions.”

Mr Badal alleged that there was sea change in the approach of the Vajpayee government and the previous Central Governments led by the Congress. While the Congress government was responsible for Operation Bluestar and the Delhi riots, Mr Vajpayee had given Rs 100 crore at the time of the tercentenary celebration of the birth of the Khalsa Panth.

Addressing the Congress rally, Mr Amarinder Singh said his party would provide a clean and transparent government if voted to power apart from initiating action against Mr Badal and other corrupt ministers. He said the institution of Lokpal was teethless. Hence, there was a need to book corrupt politicians through the judicial commission. He said as per the Pachmarhi Declaration, the leaders with a criminal background would not be given the party ticket for elections. Mr Jasbir Singh Dimpa, General Secretary, Indian Youth Congress, addressing the conference, alleged that the ruling Akali Dal had misused official machinery for organising its political conference. He further alleged that the police had made arrangements for ‘langar’ while the services of the District Transport Officer were sought for arranging for buses to bring workers to the venue of the rally.

Among those who addressed the PPCC rally were Mr Santokh Singh Randhawa, a former President, Pradesh Congress, Mr Jasbir Singh, Master Jagir Singh, Mr Partap Singh Bajwa and Mr Sardul Singh, all former ministers.