The Panthic Akali Dal of Amrinder Singh, who had deserted the Congress in 1984 after the Indian Army entered the Golden Temple to combat Sikh terrorists, yesterday merged itself into the Congress Party.
Announcing this at a press conference, Singh, who parted ways with the Akali Dal just before the last Assembly elections, said the Akali popularity was on the wane and the Congress was the only alternative that stood to gain from it. The Panthic Akali Dal faired poorly in the Assembly elections.
Singh, a scion of the erstwhile ruling family of Patiala, parried questions on whether he had now forgiven the Congress for the army action at the Golden Temple. He said 14 years had passed and this was a long time. Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was earlier in-charge of Punjab, was present at the Press conference and claimed it was his efforts that brought the Panthic Akali Dal into Congress. The announcements were made by general secretary Meira Kumar who now holds charge of Punjab.
Singh opposed the Akali governments gimmickry of giving free power to farmers at a time when half of the States revenue is spent on servicing of debt.
