CHANDIGARH, APRIL 19: The fall of the A B Vajpayee Government at the Centre has lifted the spirits of veteran Akali Dal leader and former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Gurcharan Singh Tohra and his followers.The Tohra camp believes that the Vajpayee Government's ouster would weaken arch rival, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. For the last few months, Tohra has been at the receiving end of the Akali Dal factional fight. He also holds the BJP responsible for the religio-political crisis in the Sikh polity.Under the changing situation, the Tohra camp, in association with "suspended" Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh, is likely to mount pressure on Badal by way of mobilising public opinion to end what is being described as the ``official intervention in the affairs of the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs''.This camp is also drawing inspiration from the enthusiastic response to their Khalsa tercentenary celebrations at Anandpur Sahib.Reacting to developments at theCentre, Tohra told The Indian Express here today that the Vajpayee Government did nothing for Punjab as compared to the Inder Kumar Gujral Government.For the last few months, Tohra, who now stands marginalised in the SGPC by the Badal camp where he held sway for about 25 years, has been critical of the BJP-led Government at the Centre. At one time, he did not find any difference between the BJP and the Congress regimes in so far as their attitude towards Punjab was concerned. Tohra visited Gurdwara Gursagar Sahib here today where religious programmes are on to celebrate the Khalsa tercentenary.Tohra said rather than addressing the demands of Punjab, leaders like L K Advani complicated matters by saying Chandigarh would continue to be a Union Territory. He also referred to the attitude of the BJP Government on the Udham Singh Nagar issue.``I do not know what good the BJP has done to the Akali Dal and Punjab'', he said, adding although the Congress was associated with doing injustice to Punjab,the track record of the BJP, ``our own people'', was nothing to be proud of either.``We are not giving surplus river waters to the neighbouring states but the BJP failed to resolve this contentious issue on riparian principles''. He blamed the BJP for inciting factional fights in the Akali Dal. ``We came to be dubbed as radicals in the process'', the former SGPC chief said.There seemed to be a slight change in his attitude towards the Congress at the Centre, which, he said, according to indications, would form the next Government. ``It would be good if the Congress learns from its past mistakes and I believe there is likely to be some change this time, though we have nothing to do with the Congress'', he said.
