Akalis won’t snap BJP ties over

The BJP’s long standing ally, the Akali Dal, today said the tussle over sharing of seats for the coming Lok Sabha elections notwithstan...

The BJP’s long standing ally, the Akali Dal, today said the tussle over sharing of seats for the coming Lok Sabha elections notwithstanding, the alliance was unshakeable.

Coming as it does from the Akalis’ representative at the Centre — Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa — the assurance is important as it comes amid a raging controversy in Punjab on a likely BJP-Akali break up on the issue of seat-sharing. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief G.S. Tohra had recently taken a tough stand on this and even threatened to severe its ties with BJP.

Admitting to the tug-of-war over seats, Dhindsa said: ‘‘For the last elections, the BJP got three out of the 13 Lok Sabha seats and this time they are demanding five.’’ At the same time, he said, the Akali camp was insisting that there needs to be a cut on the BJP’s earlier share.

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Dhindsa wasn’t too keen to take on Tohra for his statement that the Akalis should reconsider their alliance with the NDA. ‘‘He had said it in a fit of anger,’’ he said.

Hoping that the ‘‘ideological synergy’’ between the two parties would help overcome the exigencies of electoral exercise, Dhindsa said the leaders of two parties would be setting up an election coordination committee to sort out this contentious issue.

The Akali minister said the party would press the Government as well as the Election Commission for elections in May.