JALANDHAR: Sacking of Bains brothers in Ludhiana following their rebellions does not seem to have made any difference to those rebelling against Shiromani Akali Dal candidates from Adampur and Garhshankar. The two candidates are rather appearing to be getting a taste of their own medicine which they had allegedly administered to the SAD candidates in SGPC election just a few months back.
The SAD leaders who are revolting against their candidature assert that the two had worked against the party candidates in SGPC elections. In Garhshankar district, Hoshiarpur SAD president Surinder Singh Bhulewal Rathan has been given the party ticket. He is not only facing opposition from local BJP leaders, who are angry on losing the seat to their alliance partner, but a sizable section of SAD leaders led by Iqbal Singh Khera – who contested and lost the SGPC election to rebel Jang Bahadur Singh Rai – is also annoyed with him.
Khera had accused Surinder of ensuring his defeat by joining hands with the rebels during SGPC elections. Responding to a query from TOI, he said that he had brought “anti-party” activities of Surinder to the notice of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and SAD president Sukhbir Badal. “We don’t want to harm SAD but at the same time we have not been able to forget back-stabbing done by him,” Khera said. His supporters had been opposing ticket to Surinder and now they would hold a meeting on January 2 to decide their next strategy. Khera is close to MLA Sohan Singh Thandal.
Surinder also got statements issued against Markfed Chairman Jarnail Singh Wahid in vernacular media when his group apprehended that Wahid could be given party ticket from Garhshankar. In Adampur, Devinder Kaur Kalra, who managed to win SGPC election with a thin margin, and her husband, market committee chairman Gurdial Singh Kalra, have been openly accusing assembly candidate Pawan Teenu for opposing them in SGPC election. They had even written a letter to Sukhbir Badal seeking action against him.
However, both Surinder and Teenu have been denying any activities against the party candidates. Surinder admitted that he had indeed “advised SAD leadership to suitably adjust Rai, either by giving ticket or accommodating him in the dharm prachaar committee”. However, he denied any anti-party activity against Khera and rather accused him of not mustering enough support from amongst the party workers. As for Wahid, Surinder claimed that it was some other party leader who spoke out against the Markfed chief when the latter made some remarks against Surinder. In both the cases, neither any action was taken by the party bosses against the proposed candidates, nor any attempts were made to make both the sides bury the hatchet, and now Badals are facing the headache of revolt from within.
News Source: Times of India
