SAD frets as AAP tries to cash in on Tohra’s legacy

Manish Sirhindi 

Patiala, January 17

While leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) continue to fret over the legacy of Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal is making visible attempts to take a political mileage that can possibly prep up APP’s political standing in Punjab by spraying the social media with his pictures in the backdrop of Tohra’s larger than life flex board.

AAP is trying to get the most out of the panthic vote bank of the Akalis with Tohra’s daughter Kuldeep Kaur and her family joining the party about two months ago. Now, the party is making sure that there is no let-up in support from the Akali voters who still owe allegiance to the longest serving president of the SGPC.

Recently, a war of legacy had even broken out between the Tohra clan and the Shiromani Akali Dal leadership with both trying to make the most of the political lineage of Jathedar Tohra.

During one of the six rallies that the AAP chief addressed in Patiala two days back, he was seen in the backdrop of a huge flex picture of Jathedar Tohra, leaving little to guess that the party was using Tohra’s name to consolidate their standing.

Following the rallies, party volunteers also launched a campaign to make sure that Kejri’s picture with Jathedar Tohra reached each and every voter in the area.

According to political observers, SAD was also wary of the panthic vote bank, which at one point of time drifted away from the party following multiple incident of sacrilege reported from various parts of the state SAD leaders were also seen using Tohra’s picture to their advantage when the CM held a Sangat Darshan at Tohra village where he used pictures of Tohra in the backdrop.