Badal-Tohra row may affect peace, says Singla

PATIALA, Dec 13: The sharp differences between Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and President of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak C...

PATIALA, Dec 13: The sharp differences between Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and President of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) G.S. Tohra, may affect the peaceful atmosphere of the state, said senior Congress leader Ramesh Kumar Singla.

In a statement here today, Singla said on one hand both these leaders claimed to be the real protectors of the people and on the other, had started a war of words at a time when the Sikh Panth was celebrating 300 years of its existence.

Singla said that due to the differences among the Akali leadership, people of the state were in panic and feared that the clash may lead to disturbance of peace in the state.

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Singla alleged that every time an Akali Dal government collapsed under its own weight in the past, such leaders came forward to pave the way to pull it down further. He said first Jathedar Jagdev Singh Talwandi played a key role in pulling down the Badal government, then Parkash Singh Badal and Gurcharan Singh Tohra joined hands to pull down Surjit Singh Barnala’s government and now Tohra was again upto his old tricks to bring down the Badal government and the state government was at stake.

The Congress leader also alleged that Badal had not proved to be a good administrator and thus, the bureaucracy was not following his orders. Singla alleged the state had gone bankrupt because of the wrong policies of the government.

The Congress leader also asked that PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh be made the president of the working committee designed to chalk out programmes for the tercentenary celebrations of Khalsa Panth. He said Singh had always behaved like a true Sikh and had tendered his resignation after operation Blue Star to stand by his community.