Akali Dal party in India may opt to sit in Opposition |
Former National Democratic Alliance member, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) which quit the Modi cabinet and the alliance a month ago over the contentious farms` legislations has initiated a process for a new political positioning by attempting an image make-over. The SAD leadership has started reaching out to regional parties by floating the idea of launching a common platform for “safeguarding federal principles” against “the attempts to create a unitary system” by the Modi government. This attempt is partly to explore finding new allies in Punjab for the 2022 assembly polls. The SAD leadership has constituted a three-member committee comprising party general secretary Prem Singh Chandumajra and Rajya Sabha members Naresh Gujral and Balwinder Singh Bhunder to initiate such talks with regional parties. They have already held “exploratory” talks with senior parliamentarians of regional parties such as Sharad Pawar of NCP, Bhartruhari Mahtab of BJD, Tiruchi Siva of DMK, Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena, and TDP. They intend to contact more parties, including BSP, TMC, TRS, and the Left. According to Chandumajra, BJP and its government at the Centre are no more interested in regional parties and their sentiments. Their attempt is to replace federalism with a unitary system and the recent farm legislation, the denial of GST dues to the states and empowering central investigating agencies such as NIA with additional powers in the name of cybercrimes are all part of these attempts to encroach upon the powers and domains of the states.
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