BJP will bank on Badal in Punjab assembly polls

Chandigarh, Jan 14: The BJP which has no mass base in Punjab and is devoid of a charismatic leader, will bank heavily on its electoral ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), in the Punjab assembly elections to be held on February 13.

Despite the release of its star campaigner and former MP Navjot Singh Sidhu from prison, the party will depend on the personality of SAD chief and former Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal to fetch it votes. The cricketer-turned-politician with his flamboyant style of speaking no doubt impresses many, but he still has a long way to go to learn the finer skills of political oratory that Mr Badal possess to attract voters towards the SAD.

The BJP or the Jan Sangh once boasted of an urban base and leaders of the stature of Dr Baldev Prakash, Hit Abilashi and Yagya Dutt Sharma. But today this base stands eroded and many of its current leaders stands discredited due to infighting.

Current BJP state president Avinash Rai Khanna (MP) or for that matter former ministers Balwamjit Dass Tandon or Madan Mohan Mittal do not enjoy the same reputation that Dr Baldev Prakash or Yagya Dutt Sharma enjoyed. Mr Sharma, a two time MP, had launched a 'satyagrah' against the emergency at Amritsar and had gone onto become Governor.

Dr Baldev Prakash enjoyed a very good relationship with Mr Badal and even when the Akali leader was leaning towards the militants, Dr Prakash remained a stead fast friend of the former chief minister. Hit Abilashi too had excellent leadership qualities but sadly for the BJP and Punjab, his life was cut short by the terrorists.

The popularity of the present BJP leadership can be gauged from the fact that Mr Tandon virtually 'fled' from his home constituency Amritsar to fight the elections from Rajpura. He lost the 2002 polls by a huge margin to the Congress nominee Raj Kumar Khurana, who is now the BJP candidate from Rajpura. Likewise, Mr Mittal was humiliated from Nangal and seems a reluctant contestant this time.

In the last polls, the BJP could win only three of the 23 seats it contested in alliance with the SAD, securing just 5.83 lakh votes, which was 5.67 percent of the votes polled. Its best showing was in the 1997 elections when it won 18 of the 22 seats it contested in alliance with SAD. In the list of 15 of the 23 candidates that the party has already announced for the February polls, the party has changed its candidates for 6 seats---Garhshankar, Ludhiana North, Dasuya, Jalandhar North, Sujanpur and Rajpura. The party has retained the same candidates for Ferozpur town, Fazilka, Ludhiana East, Phagwara, Jalandhar Central, Pathankot, Narot Mehra, Dinanagar and Batala.

The party is yet to announce the candidatures of its old guard---Mr Mittal, Mr Tandon, Dr Baldev Chawla and even firebrand leader Laxmi Kanta Chawla. There are indications that some of them are reluctant to enter the electoral battle.

The party has also to decide its candidate for the Amritsar Parliamentary seat which was vacated by Sidhu after his conviction in a 19-year old road-rage case. There are indications that the party may field again field Mr Sidhu from here as he has a good base in the urban areas and the BJP hopes to ride piggy bank on Mr Badal to fetch it rural votes.

The party will also be banking heavily on cine star-turned-politician and former Union Minister Vinod Khanna, who represents the Gurdaspur Parliamentary seat. Mr Khanna who had won all the last three Lok Sabha polls from Gurdaspur can expect to get the BJP votes in Pathankot, Narot Mehra, Sujanpur, Dinanagar, Sujanpur and Mukerian assembly segments.

UNI