Akalis, BJP tie up for Municipal Commitee polls in Punjab

Chandigarh, Jun 4 (UNI) Despite differences cropping up during the last month's Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP will jointly contest the Municipal Committee elections in Punjab scheduled for June 30.

This decision was taken at the joint meeting of senior leaders of SAD and BJP held here tonight under the chairmanship of SAD patron and Chief Minster Parkash Singh Badal.

The meeting was attended by BJP's state in-charge and Member of Parliament, Mr Balbir Punj, state BJP unit chief Rajinder Bhandari, MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and Akali leaders Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Balwinder Singh Bhundar and Capt Kanawaljit Singh.

Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia, veteran BJP leader Balram ji Das Tandon and SAD secretary Daljit Singh Cheema were also present.

During the Zila Parishad and Samiti polls held on May 12, the BJP had accused its senior alliance partner, the SAD of high handedness against BJP leaders and workers, including elected representatives. However, matters between the two alliance partners settled down after a meeting with Mr Badal few days after the polls.

In a significant decision taken at the meeting the district bodies of both the parties had been authorised to finalise the job of seat sharing between SAD and BJP. In addition, these bodies will also select the candidates for the elections keeping in mind the winnability criterion in mind. The district level units have been advised to see that the process of seat sharing and selection is complete by June 8.

According to SAD spokesperson, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, it was also decided in the meeting that both the parties will appoint one senior leader of each party as an observer for each of the 20 districts. Besides one leader of each of the two parties will act as coordinator at the state level.

The list of such district observers will be released tomorrow by both the parties. The observers will supervise the election process till the completion of it and will ensure that all the decisions taken by the alliance leadership are implemented in letter and spirit.

The senior leaders present in the meeting asked the leaders and workers of both the parties not to issue any controversial statements. They also said that any violation in this regard by anybody will be seriously dealt with.

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