NEW DELHI, APRIL 21: Prem Singh Chandumajra, dissident Akali Dal MP owing allegiance to the G S Tohra group, today said he could not afford to be seen siding with the Congress in the games of Government formation at the Centre.Speaking to The Indian Express, Chandumajra said he could not translate his difference of opinion with the Akali Dal president Parkash Singh Badal into an action which would facilitate the return of the Congress to power at the Centre. The Akali Dal had swept the elections in Punjab on anti-Congress plank and its leaders generally perceive the Punjabi electorate as hostile to the Congress for the party's anti-Sikh role during years of insurgency and later massacre of Sikhs, following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.Chandumajra had narrowly missed casting his vote against the confidence motion moved by the Vajpayee Government. Chandumajra, however, claimed that the split in the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was inevitable in case the Third Front constituentslead the Government formation. He said he would openly rebel against the party and expected at least two more MPs from the eight-member parliamentary group of the party to join him. He, however, clarified that at the moment, no efforts towards splitting the party.
