Badal issues stern directive to MPs on Bihar

TALWANDI SABO, Feb 25: Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Parkash Singh Badal today directed the Akali MPs to strictl...

TALWANDI SABO, Feb 25: Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Parkash Singh Badal today directed the Akali MPs to strictly follow the party’s decision to support President’s rule in Bihar and warned that any violation would result in expulsion from SAD rank and file.

The Chief Minister said that his party was against the misuse of Article 356, but that Bihar was a fit case for President’s rule following the series of Dalits’ massacres.

“Moreover, we have decided to support the Bill in wake of the decision taken by the Congress to oppose it, with the ulterior motive of grabbing power by dethroning the BJP-led coalition government,” Badal said while fielding a volley of questions during a press conference at Takht Damdama Sahib.

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Badal was here to monitor the arrangements for the Chardi Kala Sarbat Da Bhala march which will begin from here tomorrow.

The CM said that he had discussed the issue of President’s rule in Bihar with the Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu over telephone, but declined to divulge the details of the discussion.

Asked whether he would cajole the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leadership to support the Bill in favour of the BJP, he said only time would tell.

He declined to comment on whether his party would take disciplinary action against senior leader and the Union Cabinet Minister Surjit Singh Barnala for his comments against the suspension of Bhai Ranjit Singh as Akal Takht Jathedar.

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Badal said that he would expand his ministry after the budget session. He disclosed that he would write to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to take up the Punjab issues that had been discussed with the Pakistan government during the first bus journey, with his counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

Badal said he would be willing to bring the belongings of Maharaja Ranjit Singh that had been left in Pakistan and that SAD was willing to start a march from Lahore to mark the tercentenary celebrations of the Khalsa Panth. Lahore is the birth-place of Bhai Diya Singh, one of the five beloved of Guru Gobind Singh.

He said that the Prime Minister and the Vice-President had confirmed their participation in the tercentenary celebrations and would be arriving in Anandpur Sahib on April 8 and 12, respectively.