(14/01/12)(7starnews)
Family feuds, rather than political rivalry, are in focus in Punjab as the state goes to polls in less than a month. The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) may be pitted against the Congress, but it\'s his nephew Manpreet Singh Badal and his People\'s Party of Punjab (PPP) that are giving sleepless nights to chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.
The succession struggle first fractured the party and now Badal\'s son Sukhbir and nephew Manpreet are fighting it out to project themselves as the real inheritor of the Akali political space - a battle reminiscent of the Thackeray clan feud in Maharashtra.
As for Badal, more than the Akali Dal patriarch, he is now an ageing father desperately trying to propel his son\'s political career to an incontestable position before bowing out himself. The patron of one of India\'s oldest regional parties allowed the family split for the love of his son.
Now, the battle is clearly between the next generation of the Badal clan even as the spotlight in this election has been on the contest between the CM and his brothers in the Lambi constituency in Muktsar district.
Badal is locked in a tough fight with his younger brother Gurdas - who looked after the Lambi seat of the Akali Dal patron before his son Manpreet was sacked - and his cousin Mahesh Inder Singh Badal. While Gurdas is the candidate of his son\'s PPP, Mahesh Inder is contesting on a Congress ticket.
Mahesh Inder, who once lived in a joint family with his cousins, parted ways long back and contested against Badal as an independent candidate in 2002 and in 2007 on a Congress ticket. In the last elections, he gave a tough fight to the CM and lost by a narrow margin of 9,000 votes.
The family fight has made Lambi the most watched constituency in Punjab.
Despite the split, however, Parkash and Gurdas have refrained from spewing venom at each other. In fact, when the CM\'s wife Surinder Kaur died recently, the brothers met and sat together for some time.
Sources said the ambition of the next generation members of the family led to the division in the party.
The seeds for the split were sown more than 15 years ago when Badal brought his nephew into politics in 1995. Manpreet, who studied in the UK, contested the assembly byelection from Gidderbaha constituency, earlier nurtured by his uncle, and won. He was re- elected in 1997, 2002 and 2007 from the same seat.
Meanwhile, Badal\'s son Sukhbir, who had returned after completing his education in the US, too, started nurturing political ambitions. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996 and 1998 and served as the Union minister of state for industry in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1998- 1999. Following his defeat in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, he was given a Rajya Sabha seat.
Everyone assumed that the cousins would continue to play separate roles in state and central politics. Gurdas quit active politics, though he had won assembly and Lok Sabha elections earlier, and supported his elder brother.He and his son remain loyal to Badal.
Manpreet defended the family\'s honour when the Badals\' palatial farmhouse in Balasar was raided by the state vigilance bureau during the Congress regime in 2002 after corruption charges were levelled.
\"Manpreet\'s ambition clashed with his cousin increasing control over the reins of the party after it came into power in alliance with the BJP in 2007,\" a family source said. \" His father Gurdas wanted an important ministry for him. Manpreet wanted either the home or the finance portfolio and Badal senior obliged,\" he said.
But in January 2009, Badal anointed his son as the deputy chief minister, making it clear whom he had chosen as his successor. Sukhbir also took charge as the party president.
Sukhbir grip over the party became even more firm after his wife Harsimrat Kaur won the Lok Sabha elections from Bathinda, defeating the Congress nominee and Captain Amarinder Singh\'s son, Raninder.
As Sukhbir\'s control over Akali Dal grew, Manpreet started getting restive.Despite being the finance minister, he often criticised the economic policies of the ruling SAD- BJP alliance. In 2010, a defiant Manpreet refused to toe the party line and invited his uncle\'s wrath for challenging the subsidy regime of the state government. He was sacked from the party in October 2010.
A few months ago, Manpreet started holding public meetings in the state and attracted huge crowd. Later he announced the formation of the PPP, which is contesting the elections in alliance with the CPM and the CPI.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/punjab-polls-parkash-singh-badal-manpreet-singh-badal-akali-dal-chief/1/168202.html
News From: http://www.7StarNews.com
Saturday, January 14, 2012
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