After Shah meet, BJP undecided on Punjab

Vibha Sharma and 

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Chandigarh, Feb 6

Keeping the Shiromani Akali Dal on tenterhooks, senior BJP leaders, who met in New Delhi today, remained undecided on whether to continue the party alliance with the Akalis and contest the Assembly elections, which are scheduled for 2017, together.

Sources said “most Punjab leaders” spoke against continuing the alliance. A decision on the issue will be taken next week, said senior Punjab leaders, who met national president Amit Shah, national general secretary Ram Lal and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

All four BJP ministers in the Punjab government were invited to today’s core committee meeting that lasted two hours. Although it was expected that the state BJP president would be announced after the meeting, this was not done. Sources said a decision in this regard would be taken only after eliciting the views of “warring factions to ensure everyone was on the same page”.

Also, there was speculation that at least three of the four BJP ministers in the Parkash Singh Badal Cabinet would be dropped. But nothing of the kind happened. Each of the party leaders and ministers were asked to explain the positives and negatives of remaining in the alliance. Senior leaders complained that the BJP ministers had been “relegated” in the SAD-led government. They pointed out that important departments under the portfolios allocated to BJP ministers had been shifted.They also mentioned the “high-handedness” of Akali workers while interacting with BJP workers. Some said ties with the Akalis should be snapped because of ‘anti-incumbency’.

Significantly, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Sidhu was not among the invitees, perhaps a signal that the party had decided to keep him off Punjab affairs.

The leaders also discussed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) surge in Punjab.

Other than the four BJP ministers, Madan Mohan Mittal, Surjit Jiyani, Bhagat Chunni Lal and Anil Joshi, Kamal Sharma, Ashwani Sharma, Manoranjan Kalia, Avinash Rai Khanna, Union Minister Vijay Sampla and Brij Lal Rinwa attended the meeting.