Navjot Sidhu’s outburst puts SAD-BJP alliance on trial
Friday, 10/10/2014
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20141010/punjab.htm#2
Chandigarh : Navjot Singh Sidhu, BJP's star campaigner, has once again taken on the SAD leadership. He made a scathing attack on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy Sukhbir Badal while addressing election rallies in support of his party candidates in the Punjabi belt of Haryana.
Sources said Sidhu believed that the Badals had played a role in the BJP denying ticket to him for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat. They said Sidhu had finally got an opportunity to lash out at the Badals during campaigning in Haryana.
In his inimitable style, Sidhu posed questions to the Badals as to why they were supporting the INLD, their alliance partner BJP's rival in Haryana. He used strong words such as "backstabbers" for the SAD leadership though he did not name anybody.
Party insiders say Sidhu's outburst must have had the tacit support of the BJP high command. "Sidhu is a well-known personality. The party could have asked him to campaign in any part of the state, but it deliberately picked him to canvass in constituencies where the Badals are aggressively campaigning for the INLD," observed a senior BJP leader.
For the past several months, there has been a cold war between the SAD and the BJP on various issues. Union Finance Minster Arun Jaitely's letter regarding fiscal affairs of the state and BJP leader Shanta Kumar's observations on the matter is enough to indicate that there is something amiss between the alliance partners.
Sidhu's utterances are likely to have an impact on the SAD-BJP ties in the state. It may encourage more BJP leaders to take on the SAD on various issues.
After coming to power at the Centre, the BJP is not willing to play second fiddle to the SAD. It is steadily becoming more assertive. It even forced the state government to dilute the property tax. The Aam Aadmi Party today said the BJP and the SAD should clarify their stand on Sidhu's remarks during campaigning in Haryana. Suchha Singh Chhotepur, state AAP convener, said a senior leader accusing the SAD of running a mafia in Punjab was a serious matter.
He wondered why the BJP was not withdrawing support to the SAD-led government when its leaders were opening levelling allegations against the Akali leadership.
Fissures to the fore
Sources say Sidhu has a grudge against the Badals for their role in the denial of ticket to him from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat
They say he is making the most of an opportunity to take on the SAD while campaigning in Haryana
BJP insiders say Sidhu's outburst against the SAD leadership must have had a tacit support of the high command
This will encourage more BJP leaders to take on the SAD on various issues
Now, SAD calls Sidhu a ‘back-stabber’
Chandigarh: Stung by BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu’s criticism, the SAD on Thursday hit back, saying it was the former MP who had “back-stabbed” the BJP and his mentor Union minister Arun Jaitley by refusing to campaign for him in Amritsar. Sidhu had reportedly called SAD leaders “back-stabbers” while campaigning for the BJP in Dabwali on Wednesday. The SAD general secretary and party core committee member, Maheshinder Singh Grewal, said: “Instead of resorting to cheap theatrics, the former MP should explain why he had stabbed his mentor (Arun Jaitly) in the back when the latter needed him the most.” Grewal claimed that the SAD had always stood by its friends and allies and that is why it was contesting the Assembly elections in league with the INLD in Haryana. “Sidhu is a new entrant into politics. But he should know that the SAD has been an INLD ally since the time of Chaudhary Devi Lal. We are only upholding that tradition,” Grewal said. He advised Sidhu to maintain decorum and not reduce political speeches to a “comedy circus” show.
