The Akali Dal-BJP alliance was yesterday set to sweep to nearly a three-fourths majority in the new Punjab assembly, the Akalis alone winning a majority, with victories or leads in counting for 88 of the 117 seats. The ruling Congress was routed, with wins or leads in only 16 seats.
Simranjit Singh Mann, leader of a hardline Akali faction, came third in the Qila Raipur constituency. Prakash Singh Badal, who heads the main Akali Dal, won the seat. Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal seemed set to win her Lehra Gaga seat.
The BJP seemed likely to win 18 of the 22 constituencies it contested. Starved of good news for months, its leaders exulted. A senior United Front leader predicted that the BJP would be more belligerent during the budget session of Parliament.
Indeed, a BJP spokesperson said: The so called secular parties have suffered a crushing defeat, which shows that they came together on an entirely false and unsustainable platform to form the central government. The performance of the United Front's partners in Punjab shows that the Front does not have the mandate to rule in the centre.
United Front leaders were nonetheless pleased, at the Congress' rout. A Front chief minister said: It will make it all the more difficult for Sitaram Kesari to withdraw support to our government.
He added that we had nothing much at stake in Punjab. If the CPI and the CPI(M) were leading in counting for only two seats each, the BSP, which holds a dozen seats in the current house, was leading in as few.
Congress leaders added that Kesari, and his lieutenant Ghulam Nabi Azad would face flak over the party's debacle in the first general elections it fought under Kesari's leadership. Azad is the AICC general secretary in charge of Punjab. A meeting of the Congress Working Committee next Sunday will offer an opportunity for sniping.
While admitting defeat, Azad claimed credit on behalf of his party for having restored normalcy, peace and harmony in the state. The Congress had swept the 1992 polls, held after six years of President's rule during secessionist militancy. The Akalis had won the previous elections, after the 1985 Rajiv-Longowal accord.
In Chandigarh, Congress leader Kamal Chaudhary said corruption charges, including those against national leaders, had worked against the party. He added that Congress leaders played the peace card for too long in Punjab.
Badal, the putative chief minister, promised a corruption-free administration along with peace.
Perhaps concerned that the Akalis were in a position to form a government by themselves, BJP vice-president KL Sharma asserted that the mandate was for a coalition and not for either party alone. Had the two parties not joined hands, they would not have got such results, he held.
SS Barnala, the Akali leader in the Lok Sabha, echoed that: The Akali Dal has greatly benefitted by forming alliance with the BJP. People of Punjab have responded overwhelmingly to our message of peace, amity and development without corruption.
Sharma spoke of the possibility of a deputy chief minister from the BJP. A Congress MP pointed out that BSP leader Kanshi Ram had warned after the Congress refused his terms for a partnership that the BSP would ensure that the Congress lost, even if the BSP too was wiped out. The twin defeats could affect the Congress-BSP alliance in UP, which is already under strain.
Some BJP leaders hope the BSP will agree to ally with them in UP now, but Sharma said It will not be possible for the BSP to further call the shots in UP, he asserted.
