Badal forms committee to streamline functioning of SAD-BJP alliance

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today constituted a six-member State Coordination Committee of Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP to streamline day-to-day functioning and cooperation between the alliance partners.

SAD Senior Vice President Ranjit Singh Brahampura, Secretary General Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and General Secretary Balwinder Singh Bhunder will represent the Akali Dal in the committee, while Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma, senior BJP leaders Narottam Dev Ratti and Rajinder Bhandari will be the BJP nominees, SAD General Secretary Harcharan Singh Bains said here today.

Similar committees will be set up at all district headquarters shortly for enhanced coordination at the grassroot level, he said.

In the recent past, there have been a few incidents which have reportedly led to friction between the two allies.

In June, BJP leaders from Punjab had questioned Badal's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi without any state BJP leaders.

However, later Badal had said that as the head of a state, every Chief Minister can meet the Prime Minister and Union Ministers any time because the sole motive of these meetings is to ensure the welfare and development of the state. He had said he had no objection if any leader accompanied him to such meetings.

The Chief Minister had then maintained that the SAD-BJP alliance was very firm and there was a cordial relationship between the two parties.

However, in another incident last month, SAD had asked BJP MLA Anil Joshi not to politicise the matter of Punjab government deciding to rollback 'advance tax on stock'.

Earlier, Akalis had attacked former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu's wife, Amritsar East MLA Navjot Kaur, for demanding SAD minister Bikram Singh Majithia's resignation over senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley's defeat in Lok Sabha polls.