Akali Bid For Tie-Up With Cong (I) Fails

From Satindra Singh

NEW DELHI, April 27

Mr. Ravi Inder Singh, Speaker of the now dissolved Punjab Legislative Assembly, has failed in his secret mission to persuade the Congress (I) to have an electoral alliance with the Akalis.

He had airdashed from Amritsar to Delhi in his private four-seater aeroplane to deliver a letter purported to have been written by the seven-member Election Committee of the Akali High Command.

According to authoritative sources, in their secret epistle, the Akalis had offered that each party should put up 58 candidates for the 117-member State Assembly. They also offered that in the event of the two parties winning a majority in the Assembly in the May poll, a Congress (I) nominee should be the Chief Minister.

Soon after landing at Delhi airport, Mr. Ravi Inder Singh made a dash for the Prime Minister’s residence to deliver the highly confidential letter. It was received by a member of the Prime Minister’s personal staff. His desperate efforts either to meet Mrs.Gandhi or to contact Mr. Sanjay Gandhi, however, did not bear fruit.

ZAIL SINGH’S VIEWS

Mr. Ravi Inder Singh then went to the residence of Mr. Zail Singh to give him a copy of the letter. He left for Amritsar in the afternoon empty handed. Mr. Zail Singh, it may be noted, is not averse to a Congress (I)-Akali electoral alliance as it would help him ward off the joint attack of three factions led by Mr. Darbara Singh, Mr. Gurdial Singh Dhillon, Mr Harcharan Singh Brar – all Jats – against his supremacy in the Punjab Congress (I).