The Akalis, with a reputation for squabbling eternally, are once again back at their favourite game of playing the spoilsport now that they perceive themselves a step away from power, as the last lap in the Punjab Assembly elections race began with the completion of withdrawal of nominationss yesterday.
While the long-running feud between the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief, Prakash Singh Badal and the SGPC chief G S Tohra has been put on the back-burner, the Akali Dal has displayed enough potential in its ranks for committing Harakiri. Observers say the electoral fight may not prove to be exactly a cake-walk for the SAD-BJP combine, and the rebels, while not very strong by themselves, may nevertheless mar the chances of several candidates in some constituencies where the fight is rather close. The fringe Akali groups, like those led by Simranjit Singh Mann and Kuldip Singh Wadala, will also eat into the Akali vote pie. Badal, projected by the SAD as its chief ministerial candidate, is himself a victim of intra-party bickerings. He is facing opposition in his home constituency of Lambi in Muktsar district from none other than his uncle, Tej Singh, who is reportred to be working against him alongwith other party dissidents.
This has forced Badal to fight additionally from the relatively safe seat of Qila Raipur in district Ludhiana. The SAD, which many political observers see as the only Akali Dal that mattered, suffered a major setback when the scion of former princely state of Patiala, captain Amarinder Singh quit the party, accusing Badal of functioning in an un-democratic way.
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Capt Amrinder Singh, who had joined the Akali Dal after Operation Bluestar in 1984, is now hob-nobbing with the Congress, though he denies the charge.
His recent meeting with Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has already attracted a lot of flak from the Akali circles. The resignation of former Parliament member and senior vice-president of SAD, Charanjit Singh Walia has also given a jolt to the Dal.A number of leaders from the partys frontal organisations, like the youth and the women wings, have left after revolting over the issue of assembly election tickets distribution.
The chief of the women Akali Dal, Shavinderjit Kaur Johl, has joined the Congress, who has been offered a ticket.
Apart from those who have come out in open rebellion and quit the party, a number of dissidents are expected to work against the partys official candidates.
The alliance of Mann-led Akali Dal with the Bahujan Samaj Party is likely to chip away at the Dalit sikh votes, which before the advent of the BSP, used to be Badals vote-bank.
While political experts differ among themselves whether an Akali Dal government, if it materialises, will survive the dobious legacy of infighting, the SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra has denied any such possibility.
While earlier there used to be a multiple power structure in ticket distribution, where the SGPC chief and others would be consulted, this time all powers were delegated to the dal chief for selection of candidates, he said.