CHANDIGARH: The Badal and Longowal factions have separately reversed their decision to merge with the Akali Dal led by Mr Simranjit Singh Mann and “reactivated” their parties to contest the forthcoming elections in Punjab. The Badal faction further split on April28 with the faction led by Captain Amrinder Singh and Ravi Inder Singh floating their own Akali Dal (Panthic). The Captain alleged that Badal did not take party leaders into confidence at the time of the merger with Mann’s party in January. When Badal and his men he added were not adjusted for contesting the poll he revolted.

Dal-L acting President Kabul Singh said their decision had been taken in the wake of the failure of Mann to come up to expectations. Dal -L men too had not found any representation in the coming elections and its leaders said Mann acted unilaterally without consulting senior leaders on all important issues.

The Badal party’s working committee and front organisations have also been revived Mr Badal told-a hurriedly convened news conference here on Tuesday that the party would contest 70 to 80 seats of the 117-member Punjab Vidhan Sabha and 10 of the 13 Lok Sabha seats from the state. A manifesto committee with the party’s senior vice president Mr Sukhjinder Singh as convener had been constituted. The aspirants for the party’s tickets had been asked to file their nomination papers and the candidates had been finalised by the working committee on April 28.

Mr Badal however announced that he would neither contest for the Lok Sabha nor for the Assembly seat but actively campaign for party candidates. Asked what if he was directed by the party to contest the election Mr Badal said that “party was supreme”

The revival of the Akali Dal (Badal) is likely to make a significant change in the political scene of the state as the party commands widespread support among the Sikh masses which had become dormant after it along with the Akali Dal (Longowal) had decided to merge with the Akali Dal (Mann) on January 12 this year.

The decision to reactivate the party was taken after attempts at reconciliation between Mr Mann and Mr Badal failed on Monday.

The merger decision had remained inoperative as Mr Mann had been putting off the restructuring of the party’s organisational set-up to accommodate the Badal and Longowal factions. The breaking point was reached when Mr Mann kept both the factions out of the Parliamentary Board constituted a few days ago to allot tickets for the elections.

Mr Badal and Mr Sukhjinder Singh said in a written statement that in view of the ‘panthic’ sentiments Mr Mann had been entrusted with the responsibility to lead the party but he not only misused the unity for his “narrow interests and arbitrary views” but disrupted it also

Answering questions Mr Badal and Mr Sukhjinder Singh said their party would not have any truck with the Congress (I) the two Communist parties and the BJP but would try to forge alliance with all Sikh organisations. They said the party’s political goal was the right to self-determination which would be elaborated in the election manifesto.

The two leaders said India should be federation of sovereign states like the USSR. This stand they said left the Anandpur Sahib resolution behind. They declined to answer questions on the goal and asked newsmen to wait for the party’s manifesto.

Mr Sukhjinder Singh said the January 12 decision was for merger of all the three factions of the Akali Dal. “We never authorised Mr Mann to dissolve the party” he said.

Mr Kabul Singh declared his party would contest all the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha seats. The efforts would be to go in for adjustments with like-minded parties. Capt Kanwaljit Singh a senior party leader said the aim was to defeat Congress (I) and the BJP. He said the political aim would be a federal structure to fulfill the aspirations of the Sikhs which he defined as self-respect and maintaining Sikh identity.

A committee has been set up to initiate the process of seat adjustments with other like-minded parties. The manifesto committee headed by the former minister Mr Natha Singh Daam has also been constituted.

Going back into the merger of Akali Dal (L) with Akali Dal (Mann) Capt. Kanwaljit Singh said the decision to unite all the Akali factions was taken in the wider interests of the community but regretted that Mr Mann continued to behave as a group leader and he never gave any representation to the leaders from other factions. The issue finally precipitated when Mr Mann announced the formation of parliamentary board without giving any representation to Akali Dal (L).

Moreover Mr Mann continued to change party stand and policies thereby embarrassing the Sikh community Capt. Kanwaljit Singh particularly referred to Mr Mann’s stand on Gulf war extending support to the United States. Even Mr Mann’s political goal was vague. He was authorised by all Akali factions to negotiate with the government and he failed in that also…

Article extracted from this publication >> May 3, 1991