Leaders of the Akali Dal and the Sikh Students Federation have urged Assam Chief Minister P K Mahanta to pull out of the United Front government and review the decision to appoint former Punjab DGP K P S Gill as the security adviser to the state government. In Gills appointment, they see a conspiracy by the Centre to topple the AGP-led government.
This was conveyed by leaders of three Akali factions (the non-Badal groups) at a meeting in Jalandhar last Saturday. The ostensible reason for the meeting attended by several prominent individuals and legal luminaries was a seminar on Indian Minorities, Punjab Problem and Human Rights. However, the occasion was used to forge a wider political alliance.
The idea of the Akali factions is to join hands with the AGP and ultimately join the Federal Front comprising regional parties like the Telugu Desam, the DMK and the AGP. The AGP and the All Assam Students Union (AASU) have had links with the Akalis and the SSF for quite some time. The AASU was also invited for the meeting, but it kept away as it did not want to give the impression that it is the student wing of the AGP.
Akali leaders told senior AGP leader Arun Sharma that Gills appointment would lead to bloodshed in Assam. By forcing the Mahanta government to agree to Gills appointment, the Centre is allegedly trying to defame the AGP in the eyes of its supporters, and break its support base. The sooner the AGP withdrew from the United Front government, the better it would be to salvage the partys image, the Akalis said at the meeting.
Prominent among those who attended the seminar were Justice Kuldip Singh, Justice Patil, Justice A S Bains, Prakash Ambedkar and Rajinder Puri (journalist). The speakers came down heavily on chief minister Prakash Singh Badal for not fulfilling the promise of setting up a commission to go into `Operation Bluestar and detail the number of killings involved.
At the seminar, it was decided to set up an independent commission for the same purpose. It would be led by Justice Kuldip Singh, and include several prominent individuals including former justices.
Division in AGP over appointment
K P S Gills appointment as security adviser faces considerable opposition from within the AGP. It was strongly opposed at a recent meeting of the state cabinet presided over by Mahanta, AGP sources said yesterday.
Mahanta has claimed that the decision to seek Gills services was the state governments, and that it had not been sponsored by the Centre.
