Akali Patriarch Dal Parkash Singh Badal (center) with party chairman Sukhbir Singh Badal (right) and other leaders address their ‘Rosh’ rally in Rajasansi, near Amritsar, on February 13, 2020 (PTI Photo) .
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal’s decision to resign from the NDA is a “political compulsion”, even as the BJP downplayed the divorce with its oldest ally over the projects. agricultural sector laws that have sparked farmer protests in Punjab and other states.
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- Last update: September 27, 2020 1:09 PM IST
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The BJP said on Sunday that the party is set to contest all 117 seats in the Punjab Assembly in the 2022 state elections after its oldest ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal, resigned from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over differences. in the three controversial agricultural sector bills. approved by Parliament.
BJP Senior Leader Madan Mohan Mittal even claimed that several Akali leaders are in contact with them and want to jump into the BJP. “The SAD would not get a majority if it competes alone,” Mittal told the media.
In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP had contested 23 seats, while the remaining 94 were contested by the SAD. Of the 13 parliamentary seats in Punjab, the Akalis contested 10 in the 2019 general elections, while the BJP fought in the remaining three.
Former Minister Mittal has been quite vocal against the SAD for quite some time, and had been saying that the BJP should part ways with the Akalis with whom the Saffron party had an alliance for three decades.
Relations between the old allies were first strained last December when Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal criticized the BJP during the debate on the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in Parliament.
On Saturday night, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal announced the decision to sever ties with the NDA, amid further agitation by farmers in Punjab over the three pieces of legislation recently passed by Parliament amidst opposition protests.
Badal’s wife and SAD leader, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, had resigned from the Union Cabinet on September 17 after he strongly opposed the bills in Lok Sabha, claiming that these laws will “destroy” the agricultural sector. in Punjab. Parliament recently passed the Commodity Bill (Amendment); Draft Law on Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) of Agricultural Products and Agricultural Products; and the Price Guarantee Agreement and the Farmers’ Agricultural Services (Empowerment and Protection) Act. They have not yet obtained the consent of the president.
Punjab’s chief minister Amarinder Singh called Akali Dal’s decision “nothing more than a desperate case of political compulsion” for the Badal. Referring to his earlier statement, in which he had stated that the NDA would fire the Akalis if the Akalis did not leave gracefully, Amarinder Singh said there was no moral basis involved in SAD’s decision.
“The Akalis had no choice before them, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had already made it clear that it held SAD responsible for failing to convince farmers of the goodness of the agricultural laws. SAD’s decision to resign to the NDA was simply the culmination of their saga of lies and deception, which ultimately led to them being cornered on the issue of bills, “said the chief minister, adding that Sukhbir Singh Badal was practically caught between the devil and the depths of the sea after its unprincipled starting position on agricultural ordinances, followed by the sudden U-turn in the face of farmers’ protests.
The Chief Minister said that with the BJP-led ruling coalition in the Center exposing SAD’s web of lies, fabrications and double talk, the Akalis could have done nothing but the NDA. “But far from helping them save face, which they probably hoped to do, the Akalis will now find themselves in a bigger political mess, having been left without a place in either Punjab or the Center,” he added.
Akali dissident leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa also said the party severed ties with the NDA out of duress, as farmers were angry with it over farm bills. “They (SAD) have done it out of compulsion as the farmers are upset with them,” said Dhindsa, a member of Rajya Sabha. He said Akali Dal initially supported the bills and even party stalwart Parkash Singh Badal spoke in their favor.
“Then they took a U-turn, saying it’s not in the farmers’ interest. Weren’t these bills bad for farmers before? “said the dissident leader of Akali.” They have lost ground level support in the state, “he alleged.
Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, along with his son and former state finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa, was expelled from SAD in February this year for anti-party activities.
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