Bjp Worried Over Akali Stress On Anandpur Resolution

Senior BJP leaders are uneasy about the stress of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), on the Anandpur Sahib Resolution at the latters election meetings. So serious are their reservations that some BJP leaders even doubt whether the alliance can last long after the elections.

For the record at least, the party is putting a brave front on the issue. Party president LK Advani said yesterday that the BJP has no problems with the Akalis. He refused to comment on the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. The BJP has already disowned it, although it figures prominently in the SAD manifesto.

BJP leaders are drawing solace from the fact that the Akali leadership has not stressed too much on the controversial points of the Anandpur Sahib resolution of 1978 at joint public meetings. At all such meetings, the Akali leaders have emphasised brotherhood and Hindu-Sikh unity, BJP vice-president Madan Lal Khurana points out.

Even the BJP would support the Akalis demand for greater powers to the state, he pointed out, adding that the party would oppose the Akalis if they raised the demand for autonomy for Punjab. The 1978 resolution in fact demands that Punjab should be given more autonomy than that given to Jammu and Kashmir. It says that Punjab should have full control over all subjects barring sensistive ones like defence, currency and foreign affairs. The BJP had condemned the resolution over the years.Khuranas confidence is not shared by some BJP leaders who returned recently from election tours of the state. The tone of the Akalis campaign and too much emphasis on the resolution shows they are not bothered about the BJPs sensitivities, a senior BJP leader said. It is difficult to say what would happen to the alliance after the election results, he added.

In case there is a clean sweep for the alliance, the BJP, which is contesting only 23 of the 117 assembly seats would not matter much to the Akalis, he held. The situation would not be like the one in Maharashtra, where the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance governemnt could not be formed without each others cooperation, he pointed out.

In response to the Akalis manifesto, the BJP has also released its separate manifesto. However, unlike the SADs manifesto, the BJPs manifesto does not contain any reference to the controversial issues the BJP is identified with like the construction of a Ramjanambhoomi temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya, a uniform civil code and scrapping of Article 370, which grants a special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

The Ayodhya temple issue does not concern the people of Punjab, Khurana explained while releasing the manifesto.