Akali Dal To Back Gowda If Uf Snaps Cong Links

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) yesterday said that it would urge the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to support the United Front (UF) government in the trial of strength in the Lok Sabha, provided it was not supported by the Congress.

Our aim is to keep the Congress out of power or nullify its contribution in any power bargaining, SAD general secretary Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa told mediapersons after a meeting of the partys political affairs committee (PAC).

He said that the Akali Dal, which has eight members in the Lower House of Parliament, would not support the UF government if it was supported by Congress, but my party can join the government at the Centre if it is of our taste and not supported by Congress.

 

Replying to a question, Dhindsa said that if there was a split in the Congress and one faction supported the UF government, his party would support the H D Deve Gowda government.

Dhindsa, whose party, in alliance with the BJP, trounced the Congress in the February assembly polls in Punjab, said that it was necessary to take the Deve Gowda government out of the clutches of Congress.

In a resolution, the PAC blamed the Congress for moral degeneration in the country.

Its anti-people and anti-Punjab policies were solely responsible for the unspeakable tragedy that the state has gone through, it said.

The resolution said that the current political uncertainty at the Centre has vindicated the decision of the party leadership not to join the UF government at its formation.