Chandigarh, August 12
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has constituted a six-member state coordination committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP for better coordination between the alliance partners.

SAD senior vice-president Ranjit Singh Brahampura, secretary general Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and general secretary Balwinder Singh Bhunder will represent the SAD while Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma, senior BJP leaders Narottam Dev Ratti and Prof Rajinder Bhandari would be BJP’s nominees on the committee.

Top SAD-BJP leaders had agreed to form the coordination committee on June 25 after senior BJP leaders, including BJP’s in-charge for Punjab Shanta Kumar, co-incharge Sham Jaju and state BJP chief Kamal Sharma, met the Chief Minister.

The BJP leaders were worried about the party’s eroding support base and the growing influence of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the state.

But what seems to have worked as a trigger behind the CM’s move is the escalating “war of words” between the SAD and BJP leaders over advance VAT collection on stock, property tax, illegal colonies and CLU relief for hotels and hospitals. Senior BJP leader and minister in the Badal Cabinet Anil Joshi had even declared that he would join a state-wide protest of traders in case the advance VAT collection was not revoked by the state government.

The fact-finding report prepared by senior BJP leader Balramji Dass Tandon had also indicated that all was not well between the SAD and the BJP. The report had allegedly pointed out that the BJP had lost ground to AAP in urban areas due to sky-rocketing prices of sand and gravel and growing clout of the drug mafia.

The six-member SAD-BJP coordination committee would streamline the day-to-day functioning and cooperation between the alliance partners, said CM Parkash Singh Badal.