The politics of confrontation and vendetta have been on between the Akali Dal and the Congress in Punjab for a while now.
Bitter political rivals Cong and Akali Dal play a friendly cricket match to settle scores
CHANDIGARH: The politics of confrontation and vendetta have been on between the Akali Dal and the Congress in Punjab for a while now.
Perhaps inspired by the sterling performance of the Indian team in Australia, the two rival political parties on Thursday decided to settle scores by playing the gentleman’s game on the Mohali international cricket ground here.
A day after accusing former chief minister Amarinder Singh in the Vidhan Sabha for “initiating an unhealthy practice of victimising political opponents, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal lead the Akali Dal team as a “non-playing captain”, while leader of the opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, who is also Punjab PCC president, captained the opposite side.
Forgetting the venom they spew at each other on the political battlefield, the two teams were out to display their camaraderie, inspite of the googlies and bouncers.
The tone for the match was set by Governor Rodrigues, who after bowling the first ball, hoped that the rival parties would demonstrate sporting spirits on the state’s developmental issues as well.
Badal, who is facing trial in a corruption case registered against him by the Congress government, hoped that the match would go a long way in improving the political atmosphere in Punjab.
It was as if even after one year of being in power the Akalis have not lost their winning streak. They thrashed the Congress MLAs in the first ever Twenty20 tie. A history of sorts was created in more ways than one when both Badal and Bhattal sat through the four hour-long match without any walk outs, bickering or heckling.
And whenever an Akali batsman would hit a four, the party supporters would shout slogans like “bole so nihaal....” and “Akali Dal zindabad”.
Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Congress set a target of 112 runs. The Akalis matched the score in half the time and less than 12 overs.
b_ajay@dnaindia.net
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