PUNJAB
AMARINDER SEEKS ‘OPPOSITION UNITY’ AGAINST SAD-BJP COMBINE Captain Amarinder Singh has initiated a move to unite all opposition parties in Punjab against the government on the issue of new taxes. There is a strong possibility that at least Manpreet Badal’s PPP may join hands with the Congress. If this happens it would become a formidable opposition force in the state. The ruling SAD-BJP combine is nervous at the prospect. By Lokayat Correspondent
ver since the recent Punjab Assembly elections, the Opposition parties have been no match for the Shiromani Akali Dal Bharatiya Janta Party combine. With no team spirit and rift within the main Opposition (Congress) widening over the leadership issue, the ruling combine was threatening to make it more humiliating and worse for the opposition in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. But with the call for unity in the opposition ranks, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh, has caused much anxiety not only within the ruling combine but also amongst his rivals within the Congress who are waiting for his ouster following the debacle in the Assembly elections. As the Congress and the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) led by Manpreet Badal -- rebel nephew of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash
E Senior Congress leader in Punjab Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has termed the move of Cap Amarinder Singh as ill-timed.
34
| LOKAYAT OCTOBER, 2012