Chandigarh/Sultanpur Lodhi, November 3
The Punjab Congress has managed to persuade Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to give the inauguration of the prestigious Khalsa Heritage Complex (KHC) at Anandpur Sahib a skip.

However, unperturbed by the Prime Minister declining his invitation; state Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has announced that the Punjab Government will go ahead with the inauguration without the Prime Minister.

The past few weeks have seen a tug-of-war between the ruling SAD-BJP alliance and the Congress over the Prime Minister’s visit to Punjab on the invitation of Parkash Singh Badal. The Prime Minister was formally invited by Badal to inaugurate the KHC and to lay the foundation stone of the Mohali international airport. The Congress asked the Prime Minister to decline the invitation claiming that it would have an adverse impact on the party’s prospects in the next General Election to be held in February next year.

Badal today disclosed that in a letter, the Prime Minister had expressed his inability to come to Punjab on November 25 on account of his proposed foreign visit and Parliament session. Badal, however, added that the inauguration of the KHC and the laying of the foundation stone of the terminal of the Mohali international airport would be done as per schedule on November 25, sans the Prime Minister.

Badal said it was unfortunate that the Congress high command, AICC president Sonia Gandhi and PPCC president Amarinder Singh had dissuaded the Prime Minister from coming to Punjab for these prestigious projects for the sake of cheap politics. He said Sonia Gandhi and Amarinder Singh should not forget that Manmohan Singh was not the Prime Minister of the Congress party, but of the entire country.

Criticising Amarinder Singh for writing a letter to the Prime Minster requesting him to not to come for the purpose, Badal said, “By indulging in cheap politics, Amarinder Singh has put a blot on democratic norms. It is unfortunate that Amarinder Singh was making misleading statements like the KHC was inaugurated way back in 2006.” How it could be inaugurated in 2006, when it was not completed at that time, he asked.

Although the Congress has been successful in stalling the Prime Minister’s visit to Punjab on the invitation of the SAD-BJP government, this has the potential of snowballing into a major issue during the next General Election. The SAD-BJP has always indulged in Centre-bashing, claiming discrimination at the hands of the Centre, but the Congress has been saying that the UPA government has given much more financial assistance to Punjab as compared to any previous Central Government.

While the Akalis are now alleging, perhaps rightly, that by this move, the Prime Minister’s status has been reduced to a party leader from a national leader. Some Congress leaders like Jagmeet Brar and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, also feel the Prime Minister should have come to Punjab and let the people know what the Centre had done for the state.

The bad blood generated over the issue is likely to lead the Akalis restart the debate about vesting more powers with the states and having a federal setup.