The Hindu : Rivals chalk out strategy on Chandigarh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2004

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Rivals chalk out strategy on Chandigarh

By Rajesh Ahuja

CHANDIGARH, FEB.24. With the Lok Sabha elections round the corner, permutations and combinations for the lone seat in Chandigarh have become the order of the day with all major political parties engaged in hectic parleying to win over the "dissidents'' and engineer defections.

The faction-ridden Bharatiya Janata Party, which is making desperate attempts to wrest the seat from the Congress, seems to have received a shot in the arm by winning back the support of the local unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal. The party has reportedly zeroed in on the candidature of the former MP, Satya Pal Jain.

The President of the local unit of the Akali Dal, Gurpratap Singh Riar, confirmed that the difference of opinion with the Jain faction had been resolved following the intervention of the senior Akali leader, Kanwaljit Singh. Mr. Riar, an ardent supporter of the former President of the local unit of the BJP, Dharam Pal Gupta, said that he would try to sort out the "differences'' between the two BJP factions.

Interestingly, the local unit of the Akali Dal has not relinquished its stand that Chandigarh should be transferred to Punjab as per the Rajiv-Longowal Accord. Howver, it has given up its demand that the Chandigarh seat be given to it.

According to highly placed sources, in case the Jain faction is unable to woo the other faction, the BJP will face an uphill task to wrest the seat from the Congress. Insiders say that so far Mr.Jain and the local BJP chief, Yash Pal Mahajan, have been calling the shots thanks to their proximity with the Central party leaders.

On the other hand, the Congressmen are certain that the outgoing MP, Pawan Kumar Bansal, would be renominated by the High Command and given the fact that the dissidence level in the party was at an all-time low, his prospects were quite bright.

However, the recent moves to re-admit certain expelled members could boomerang and trigger resentment and even "revolt'' in the party. Though there is no bar on the readmission of expelled members in the normal course, the re-entry of close supporters of the former Union Minister, Harmohan Dhawan, who had openly indulged in acts of violence during their brief sojourn in the Congress, was being opposed by many.

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