The Akali Dal has decided to foray into the national capital. For the first time, the party would contest on its own symbol, although in alliance with the BJP, when Delhi goes to polls
CHANDIGARH: The Akali Dal has decided to foray into the national capital. For the first time, the party would contest on its own symbol, although in alliance with the BJP, when Delhi goes to polls on November 29.
In all, the party has fielded four candidates in areas where the Sikhs are in substantial strength.
Former president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee Avtar Singh Hit is contesting from the Rajauri Garden assembly seat, while Ravinder Khurana is the party nominee at Adarsh Nagar, Manjinder Singh at Jangpura seat and Jitender Singh Shanti at Shahdara.
Earlier, the Akali Dal used to join the BJP in campaign to lend support to the saffron ally in the Sikh-dominated pockets. But this time, the party intends to gain foothold in Delhi, for which Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal and about seven cabinet members have been camping in the capital, campaigning aggressively for the candidates.
CM’s adviser DS Cheema said that at the Rajauri Garden seat, the party would be contesting on its own symbol, whereas at the remaining three, the Akali Dal nominees would use the BJP symbol.
In its campaign, the party has been trying to puncture the recent claim by AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi that the Gandhi family was not against the Sikhs and that all those responsible for the anti-Sikh riots in 1984 needed to be punished. Cheema said that Rahul’s claim was preposterous in the face of former police commissioner Amod Kanth getting the Congress ticket to contest in the Assembly elections. Amod was indicted by the Nanavati Commission that looked into the circumstances in which the
riots had broken out in Delhi and elsewhere.
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