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Crucial Akali-BJP meeting to thrash out differences

The Akali Dal working committee will hold its crucial meeting tomorrow in Chandigarh to discuss the controversial issue of Udham Singh Nagar's inclusion in Uttaranchal and also to ratify the political affairs committee resolution on this issue.

Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, the Akali Dal secretary general, told reporters in New Delhi today that his party had not changed its stand on the issue and will quit the BJP-led coalition government, if the Centre fails to find a viable solution to the issue.

He hoped a viable solution might be evolved at the crucial meeting between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Akali Dal leaders.

Reiterating the party stand, Dhindsa said during the proposed meeting with the PM, the Akali Dal would also raise other pending demands including granting Punjabi the status of second official language of Delhi.

He said the Akali Dal had also decided to contest certain assembly seats of Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in next month's election.

Dhindsa, who met local Akali Dal leaders in connection with the assembly election in Delhi, said the party had an open mind on the issue of contesting the poll with the BJP. This issue too depended on the outcome of the PM's meeting with Akali leaders, he added.

He asserted that his party was in touch with Mamata Banerjee, leader of the Trinamul Congress.

''You can check up with Mamata,'' he said. According to the Akalis, Banerjee has supported the cause of the Akali Dal on the Udham Singh Nagar issue.

Dhindsa said the Akali leadership has not assured the BJP or its senior leadership that they would not take any action, which will create more problems for both parties.

Answering a question, he said in spite of problems, the Akali leadership was confident that the Centre will take a positive approach on the issue of Udham Singh Nagar.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee got in touch with Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee president G S Tohra today in a bid to soften his stance on the contentious Udham Singh Nagar issue just before the crucial meeting of the Akali Dal's working committee at Chandigarh tomorrow.

Vajpayee's office was busy throughout the day in trying to establish contact with Tohra, who is camping at Patiala circuit house, and is understood to have managed to talk to him late in the evening. The contact is considered politically significant as the SGPC leader is perceived to be taking a hardline compared to other Akali leaders on the Uttaranchal issue.

Akali Dal sources said the Prime Minister's Office had the copy of the memorandum submitted by Tohra to the Centre a few weeks ago. The memorandum, among other things, demanded exclusion of Udham Singh Nagar from the proposed hill state, granting of second language status to Punjabi in Delhi and setting up a commission of inquiry into the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 with a view to fixing responsibility on the agencies and persons involved.

The sources said the Dal will not compromise on the Udham Singh Nagar issue and if the BJP insisted on inclusion of the Terai region in the newly constituted hill state, the party may review its relations with the Centre.

On Sunday, Vajpayee had asserted that there was no threat to his government from the Akali Dal or any other coalition partner, even as Akali leaders decided to meet him on October 7 to discuss the simmering differences between the two sides over including Udham Singh Nagar in the proposed Uttaranchal state.

Addressing the minorities conference of the BJP Mahila Morcha in New Delhi over the weekend, the prime minister said his party was ready for talks with Akali Dal leaders on the differences over the inclusion of Udham Singh Nagar into the proposed Uttaranchal state. The PM also held talks with Mamta Banerjee, who, he said, has denied meeting the Akali Dal leaders on the issue.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madanlal Khurana also said Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had told him that the Akali Dal's political affairs committee, which meets on October 6, would not take any extreme decision (like withdrawing its support to the government) on the Udham Singh Nagar issue.

Vajpayee accused some 'interested quarters' of working systematically against the coalition although it emerged as the single largest party after the general election. The BJP had proved these people wrong by forming the government and running it efficiently. "Now they claim that the coalition will not last. We will prove them wrong this time also," he said.

UNI

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