Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP race to win Dalit votes via BSP leaders

CHANDIGARH: Punjab’s ruling coalition partners, BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal, are vying with each other to woo Bahujan Samaj Party leaders, with an eye on the Dalit votes. Although assembly polls are more than two years away, the two parties seem to be making provisions to withstand a possible break in alliance and loss of vote following the debut of the Aam Admi Party, which won 4 Lok Sabha seats. Punjab has the highest concentration of Dalits with 32% of the state belonging to the community.

BJP is trying to make inroads in BSP bastions of Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Nawasher districts by wooing BSP leaders, promising them plum posts in party organisation. BSP had been an Akali ally in 1997. With Vijay Sampla inducted in the Narendra Modi Cabinet, leaders like Anil Joshi and Tiksan Sood are lobbying with Brahmin and Bani leaders for plum posts within the party. BJP may ask its chief parliamentary secretaries to resign as they have had a lackluster tenure. The party is strengthening its hold in rural and Dalit areas with the help of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Shakhas too.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s had recently said that the alliance between the Akali Dal and BJP was essential for Hindu-Sikh unity in the state. This drew criticism from radical Sikh group Dal Khalsa. Its spokesman Kanwar Pal Singh said: “The relations between the two communities are not at the mercy of Akali Dal and BJP. The Akali Dal’s alliance with the Hindutva party should not be construed as guarantor of Sikh-Hindu amity. The alliance is nothing but a marriage of convenience between the two political entities that are ideologically apart.”

SAD vice-president (SC wing) Sohan Singh Thandal, meanwhile, claimed on Tuesday that his party was the ‘only custodian’ of Dalit rights.