A handful of families have been ruling Punjab

SARBJIT DHALIWAL

TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

CHANDIGARH, JAN 16

How a few families, which can be counted on the fingertips, control Punjab's electoral politics and rule the state is an interesting story.

The few families, who call the shots in the state's politics, are closely related to one another though such families have affiliations with different political parties. These can be categorised as big players and small players.

The families of Badals, Brars, Kairons, royals of Patiala and Tohras and Bhattals can be called as big players and those of Dhindsas, Barnalas and Manns as small players. By and large, big Jat Sikh landlords have kept a tight hold on Punjab's electoral politics since 1955, irrespective of the political parties.

Among the big players are Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who became the Chief Minister for the third time in 1997, Mr Harcharan Singh Brar, who remained Punjab Chief Minister in 1995 and Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, who was Chief Minister for a few months in 1996-97. At least, three members of Mr Partap Singh Kairon, who was Chief Minister in the late 50s and early 60s are now active politicians in the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal.

The Badals have dominated the Akali politics for the past several years in spite of the presence of Tohras, Barnalas, Dhindsas, Manns and others. Actually, the Akali politics has revolved around a few families. Barnalas led by Mr Surjit Singh Barnala have played a decisive role in Akali politics since the 70s.

The kith and kin of Mr Parkash Singh Badal have the largest presence and domination in the state's politics. Besides himself being the chief executive of the state, his son Sukhbir Singh is a member of the Rajya Sabha and son-in-law Adesh Partap Singh is a member of his (Mr Badal's) Council of Ministers.