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Akali chief whip Chandumajra blasts fiat on Bihar

Prem Singh Chandumajra, chief whip of the Akali Dal in Parliament, today expressed resentment against his party president and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for issuing a whip asking his MPs to be present in Parliament and vote in favour of President's rule in Bihar, and described the fiat as violative of the party's long-cherished policies and programmes.

Talking to newspersons, the Akali MP said Badal neither bothered to consult party MPs nor did held any parliamentary party meeting on the Bihar issue before issuing the whip from Chandigarh. This was not only undemocratic, but also smacked of Badal's "dictatorial attitude" and who ran the party as his fiefdom, Chandumajra added.

Instead of discussing the issue with MPs, Badal chose to wave the stick of discipline to force us to fall in line , the Akali MP said, adding that for the past three decades his party had been advocating the scrapping of Article 356 since it was Punjab, particularly the Akalis who were its victims first and that too the maximum number times. The PEPSU government was the first to be removed by the misuse of the article and subsequently four Akali governments have been subjected to such politically motivated treatment , Chandumajra said.

He said earlier, Badal attempted to demolish the institution of the Akal Takht by installing "a sarkari jathedar" at the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs, and now he was out to destroy the Akali Dal by adopting policies contrary to its basic tenets and principles.

Meanwhile, Badal has indicated today that those who did not obey the whip, should be ready to face disciplinary action.

UNI

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