Akali Dal is holding a ‘jabar vidroh rally’ outside Patiala Sunday, while Congress has chosen Killianwali in Muktsar for its ‘maha rally’.
Chandigarh: The ruling Congress and opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are all set to organise competitive rallies Sunday in each other’s bastions in Punjab in a show of strength.
The Akali Dal is holding a ‘jabar vidroh rally’ outside Patiala, while the Congress has chosen Killianwali in Muktsar for its ‘maha rally’.
Patiala is the home constituency of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Muktsar is the home district of former chief minister and Akali Dal patron Parkash Singh Badal.
The two rallies come at a point when farmers are busy harvesting paddy and waiting the lifting of the crop in mandis. No major political event is due in the state. The date of the two rallies was announced a day after the declaration of results of the panchayat and zila parishad polls on 22 September.
CM’s announcement
During the monsoon session of the state assembly in August-end, the Akali Dal was cornered over the issue of not acting against those responsible for desecration of Guru Granth sahib when they were in power in the state in 2015. The Badals were also held responsible for police killing of two Sikh youth agitating against the desecration.
Feeling the heat and fearing loss of their core panthic vote bank, the Akali Dal held two rallies — in Abohar on 9 September and Faridkot on 15 September — to regain lost ground.
Following Akali Dal’s rallies, chief minister Singh announced his decision to hold a rally in Badal’s constituency at Lambi in Muktsar to “expose” the Badals over the sacrilege and police firing incidents.
Singh said the Badals were making “wilful attempts” to create communal unrest in the state. He added that Badal had a habit of misusing religion every time around the elections and vowed to expose the Akali leader’s real face to the people of Punjab.
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Though no specific date was announced by the chief minister, almost immediately, Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal countered the CM’s move saying the Akalis would hold a rally in Patiala on the same day as Singh’s rally at Lambi to counter Congress’ charges on the issue.
Senior Badal took took a dig at the chief minister.
“I am glad that our rally has forced you to think of the people and come out of your pleasure dome. At least the people of Punjab will see the face of their Chief Minister,” he added.
Battle of rallies
Both parties are now ready for the mega-battle of prestige. For the Congress rally, apart from the party’s s top state leadership which is camping at Muktsar, virtually the entire state machinery has also been roped in. Top police and administration officials are on duty for the rally.
The Akali Dal says that the Lambi rally is going to be a ‘sarkari’ show.
“Seven ministers are camping at Lambi to force people to come to its aimless and bogus show,” said former minister and senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia.
“Despite using all means including enticement, coercion and even intimidation people were not ready to come to the Congress show. This is forcing the ministers to remain in Lambi and use strong-arm tactics to put up a show,” said Majithia.
The Akali Dal is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that their rally at Patiala is a success. Sukhbir Badal is personally supervising the arrangements. Apart from wanting to retain their panthic vote bank, the party also wants to put up a united show at the rally tomorrow.
The party was struck with unprecedented infighting last week when at least four of its senior leaders spoke out against the functioning of the party under Sukhbir and Majithia. Though the party has tried to make these leaders see reason, most of them are absenting themselves from the rally.
AAP’s issues
Sandwiched between the two mega rallies tomorrow is the Aam Aadmi Party’s ‘ros march’ (protest march) against the Congress and the Akalis for not taking the sacrilege and firing incidents to their logical conclusion.
The march will start at Kotkapura and end at Bargari. It will pass through the villages where the sacrilege incidents took place.
Announced by the AAP’s rebel faction led by Sukhpal Singh Khaira, the march could become a significant turning point for the party’s fortunes in the state. The Khaira group is expecting the rest of the AAP leaders to join them for the march paving way for a possible reuniting of the party.
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Initially the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP unit (opposed to Khaira’s) had announced a day long hunger fast outside the CM’s residence in Chandigarh Sunday. However, since it clashed with Khaira’s march, it was scheduled earlier raising hopes for unity of the party.