BJP-Akali rift unlikely to help Cong

Even as the tension between the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is palpable in Punjab, the Congress appears to have become too bogged down in internal squabbling to take advantage of the situation.

SAD chief and former Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal has let his displeasure with the BJP leadership known in unambiguous terms in the course of Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani's Bharat Uday Yatra, which passed through nine Lok Sabha seats of the state. Badal was expected to welcome the yatra at Chandigarh.

However, he appeared only in Amritsar where Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee addressed a rally on the conclusion of the first leg of Advani's yatra after covering a distance of 4,300 km from Kanyakumari and crossing through 73 Lok Sabha seats.

Similarly, the SAD leadership was sceptical of the BJP's programmes, apprehending that the BJP would ultimately make inroads into its own support base.

But the SAD-BJP rift has been tactfully covered up by Vajpayee and Advani who called the alliance with the SAD "an ideal example" of coalition politics.

To cover up the faultlines in the alliance in Punjab, Vajpayee said, "We have adhered to the coalition dharma and worked for strengthening the nation,".

But Badal tried to puncture the BJP's India Shining campaign by referring to growing unemployment in the state, unsustainable agriculture and demanded a financial package for the industry.

The BJP leadership has shown greater maturity in dealing with its alliance partner, the SAD. On the other hand, the Congress leadership, at best a coalition of interests is riven by intense infighting.

Punjab residents admit that they have lost admiration for Badal and his relatives, who are accused of amassing a huge amount of wealth during the Badal regime. But they are equally critical of the manner in which Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has been handling the affairs in the state.

"He is personally honest but he has supported many who have dubious records," said a businessman at Amritsar.

The politics of vendetta unleashed by the chief minister has also evoked sympathy for the SAD, which has been able to consolidate its support base by projecting Badal as a victim.

"Amarinder Singh is to be blamed for revival of the Akalis," said a local Congress leader who felt that the Akalis have always been using the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) as an effective tool to mobilise support.

That Badal has managed to patch up with his arch-rival and a key figure in the SGPC's politics, GS Tohra, is also an indication of a planned political management by the SAD leadership.

This was illustrated when in the course of his yatra, Advani took a diversion to meet Tohra in a private hospital near Amritsar. Tohra suffered a hear attack recently.

By all indications, the SAD-BJP combine, despite their differences, will be putting up a formidable opposition to the Congress, which appears to be in disarray on account of internal feuds.