Manpreet demands mid-term elections
Saturday, 15/11/2014
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CHANDIGARH: People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) chief Manpreet Singh Badal on Friday demanded mid-term assembly elections in Punjab, saying that this was the only out of the chaos prevailing due to the ever-increasing tension between the ruling SADBJP coalition.
“Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders have levelled allegations of corruption against local bodies minister Anil Joshi in Amritsar. BJP leaders have reacted by charging the Akalis with controlling the drug and sand mafia. Apparently, the situation is heading towards a point of no return. The people should not be allowed to suffer in the process,” Manpreet said in a statement here.
The PPP chief said the allegations and counter-allegations had been going on between the alliance partners since the Haryana assembly elections, adding that even chief minister Parkash Singh Badal seemed to have realised the gravity of the situation.
“His (Badal’s) deepening anxiety was betrayed by his defence of the alliance as being the best guarantor of peace, an argument that was double-edged. It appeared to be part of the tactics to blackmail the BJP to fall in line and reconcile to the situation that existed before the Lok Sabha elections,” Manpreet said.
Observing “a paradigm shift in the situation with the BJP in full control at the Centre and expanding its wings in states”, Manpreet said Badal had failed in his assessment of the situation in Haryana and that was perhaps the reason for the SAD ditching the BJP in that state in favour of the Indian National Lok Dal — a gamble that failed.
Stating that the BJP was now in a commanding position, the PPP chief urged Badal to clear the air over the SAD leaders’ levelling allegations of corruption against the BJP minister, with the situation now turning “paradoxical”.
“The silence of the senior leadership of the alliance partners on the allegations being levelled against each other is enigmatic. Thus, it is the right time for the political parties to appear for an electoral test and end this stalemate in the state,” Manpreet added.
