Tohra to quit Akali Dal?
By Gobind Thukral
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 21 — The SGPC President, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, and his close associates are now examining other options rather than staying in the Akali Dal led by the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal. Some of them feel that a wedge has been created and Mr Badal would like to see Mr Tohra out of the Akali Dal. In such a situation, which will come sooner than later, they feel that they have to exercise other options and match the Badal-led Akali Dal.

Mr Tohra has only one trump card, and that is Bhai Ranjit Singh, chief of Akal Takht. Mr Badal has already worked out a strategy to meet that challenge. Other mediators do not have a role to play. In fact, BJP leaders have not yet tried to mediate. They have only offered. Mr Chandra Shekhar does not find himself in a position to bring the two warring groups together. Even the CPM leader, Mr Harkishen Singh Surjeet, who has often intervened to bring unity in the Akali Dal, is not keen to burn his fingers. And Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, could not get Mr Amarinder Singh adjusted in the Akali Dal and was forced to call off his mission. And otherwise also, he will be out of the country for the next one week.

Mr Tohra has been on a whirlwind tour of Punjab for one reason or the other and had long meetings in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Mohali and Ludhiana, besides Patiala. He has not given any clear indication as yet, but has thrown enough hints that his faction has to be ready to face the onslaught from the Badal faction in which even a senior leader like Mr Jagdev Singh Talwandi is now party.

Mr Tohra has been harping on three points. One, that he had made a mere suggestion and that too an innocent one that Mr Badal should have some other leader to lead the party and he should concentrate on the functioning of the government. His suggestion had been misconstrued. It was a sincere and an innocent suggestion. Second, both the government and the Akali Dal as is evident from the defeat in the Adampur byelection, are in a serious crisis. Third, there is no money in the kitty and the bureaucracy is running roughshod. What to say of Akali workers, even MLAs, SGPC members and district Jathedars have no say in the affairs of the government. All these arguments have been firmly and squarely rejected by the Akali Dal leaders in the Badal camp.

But much more than that what is quietly being said in the Tohra faction is that Mr Badal took the fight to the finish although Mr Tohra has not annoyed him that much or challenged his leadership, but because Mr Badal does not want any hindrance in the way when his son Sukhbir Singh, now Minister of State at the Centre, is to succeed him. The line of succession is being cleared, the Tohra camp says. But this has been repeatedly rejected by Mr Badal and his son. It is also asserted that Mr Badal is hale and hearty. But Mr Tohra insists that Mr Badal's health is bad.

The Tohra camp feels that once Mr Tohra is expelled from the party, the next step would be to oust him from the SGPC. "Since Mr Badal has the reins of government in his hands and also controls the party, this may finally not be very difficult," one senior leader said.

Mr Tohra would see that after all this there is a vertical split in the Dal. He could carry his followers along with him and form a new party, a taksali (real) Panthic Akali Dal with Mr Tohra as the chief. It would have all those MLAs expelled from the Badal Akali Dal and all those district Jathedars and SGPC members who side with Mr Tohra. At present, these leaders are being counted by both factions, but much more by the Tohra faction. It is stated that Mr Tohra has the support of at least six district Jathedars and over a dozen MLAs. He is at the moment not in a position to split the Akali Legislature Party since he needs at least 25 MLAs, the Dal's present strength in the Assembly is 74. He could also have some 60 to 70 odd SGPC members also.

Once this option has been exercised, the attack on the Badal Government would become more strident. "You shall know how he expose them", one MLA boasted.

But much more important than this would be the alignment which Mr Tohra would seek at the national level. He has no love lost for the BJP. So he might be aligning with the "third front" and it may not be just the left and other parties. He could also align with former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar or the BSP led by Mr Kanshi Ram. He has already spoken to both. The idea would be to embarrass Mr Badal and his Akali Dal.

The two factions which right now are making it easy for the Congress, would however, never go near that party even for any electoral adjustment. Both Mr Badal and Mr Tohra share their dislike for the Congress. But in this game, Mr Badal would have only one choice, to be with the BJP alone.

So far, both the Akali Dal presidentship and chief ministership have alluded Mr Tohra. While he has not allowed anyone else to capture the coveted SGPC presidentship, the job of Chief Minister has slipped out of his hands during the past over two decades and a half. But right now the lines are drawn.