Akalis not to enter poll fray in Delhi

NEW DELHI, Nov 5: In a dramatic change in stance, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has decided not to contest the assembly elections in Delhi...

NEW DELHI, Nov 5: In a dramatic change in stance, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has decided not to contest the assembly elections in Delhi. It has decided to support its alliance partner, the BJP, on all 70 seats. After countless unsuccessful meetings with top leaders on both sides on the seat-sharing arrangement, the decision was reached early this morning.

“We are not angry with the BJP. There are no bad feelings. Earlier we would have worked for only four seats but now we will work for all 70,”said S S Dhindsa, general secretary SAD. For the last three days senior leaders like Surjeet Singh Barnala had camped in the city to negotiate with the BJP. The talks were deadlocked over the issue of exact seats. While the Akalis wanted plum seats like Hari Nagar and Tilak Nagar, BJP had made it clear that it would not under any circumstances part with seats which had sitting MLAs.

Apparently, there would be strong internal protests from BJP workers if they gave those seats to the Akalis.

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On the otherhand, the SAD leaders were miffed at being offered seats which had traditionally been Congress strongholds like Vishnu Garden, Gandhinagar and Jangpura.

Today, the negotiation committee of the SAD consisting of Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Prem Singh Chandu Majra, Avtar Singh Hit and Paramjit Singh Sarna decided not to contest on the four seats that the BJP was offering to them Vishnu Garden, Jangpura, Gandhinagar and Rajouri Garden. The decision was conveyed to PM A B Vajpayee and Delhi CM Sushma Swaraj in a meeting held to commemorate the tri-centenary celebrations of the Khalsa Panth.

“The BJP is still asking us to contest, but we realised that Congress is going to benefit if we concentrate only on four seats. Our common aim is to defeat the Congress at any cost,” said Dhindsa. They have promised the BJP that their top leaders like Barnala, Parkash Singh Badal, president SAD and Gurcharan Singh Tohra, SGPC chieft will campaign for the BJP. In the press release, the SAD leaders say“Congress had altered the social equation by bringing to the fore elements known to have played a heinous and bloody role during the Nov 1984 massacre.”