One need not waste energy to search for reasons for the power aspirants “unholy war”. As both the Akali-BJP combine and the Congress have high stakes, the elections to be held in February 2012 have become a do-or-die battle ground for them. Badal had decided to himself take over the party’s campaign knowing that if the Akali-BJP did not win the elections, his dream of seeing his son Sukhbir as Punjab Chief Minister will be impossible to be realized in the foreseeable future.

Badal after elevating Sukhbir as Deputy Chief Minister and Akali Dal chief, had prepared the ground for handing over his office to him before the elections. He abandoned the move as he perhaps realized that after his nephew Manpreet Singh Badal’s ouster from the party and the Ministry and Capt. Amarinder Singh becoming Punjab Congress chief, it was beyond Sukhbir to meet the twin challenges in the elections. It was, therefore, imperative for him to spearhead the party’s political and electoral battles.

For Badal, the elections will be the last chance for realizing his dream of crowning his son as Chief Minister. For the Congress, a victory will save it from going into oblivion in the corridors of power for the next five years.

Besides the Congress, former Akali chief Minister and Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala has also become a target of Badal’s tirade. Badal knows that if Barnala fails to get an extension, he will return to Punjab politics where his wife is already active. The Barnala Akali Dal can then adversely affect the Akali-BJP’s electoral prospects in Sangrur and some adjoining areas. This obviously is the reason for Badal’s using strong language calling Barnala as the “biggest traitor of Punjab who had always ignored the state’s interests”.

Badal’s anger against Barnala is apparently also based on the latter’s depriving him (Badal) of his “right” to become Chief Minister in 1985 after the Akali Dal’s victory in elections. Badal told this correspondent on September 30, 1985 that he once clearly asked Sant Harchand Singh Longowal that he (Badal) would prefer to sit quiet and quit legislative politics. Longowal had told him on August 20 before he was shot dead that “you need not bother. You would be the Leader of the Legislature Party and there is no other person to replace you.” Describing late Gurcharan Singh Tohra as an “opportunist”, Badal had said Tohra had ditched him.

The Akali-BJP government has been making high-sounding announcements since assuming office in 2007 promising developmental schemes and announcing sops. Most of these commitments have, however, remained unfulfilled. Ironically, Sukhbir’s July 22 packages to woo urban voters are also either legally untenable or were made public earlier by the Akali-BJP government. The urban package announced by Sukhbir has been described by the Congress leaders as dreams of “Sheikh Chillies” which will not convince the urban voter

Although the BJP has been the mainstay of the Badal-led government as it was due to the support of its 19 MLAs that enabled the Assembly’s minority Akali Dal ride to power in 2007. The BJP had, however, been nursing a grouse against the dominant partner for ignoring the interests of the Hindu-dominated urban areas, the BJP’s main base. But the party’s ambition to remain in power did not let it go beyond meekly protesting against the “step-motherly treatment” meted out to urban voters.

As the growing anti-incumbency will affect the BJP most, the Akali leadership realized that the anticipated setback to BJP in urban areas would mar the prospects of the Akali-dominated coalition to return to power in 2012.

But voters, especially the urban and the educated, can no longer be befooled by politicians’ gimmicks. They have enough experience of how the power seekers, irrespective of their political hues, make promises and announce ambitious projects and grant freebies on the eve of elections but most of which remain on paper and are repeated before the next elections. Voters no longer remain mute watchers of the frauds played by power seekers. They assert at the time of voting.

The question, however, is from where the government would find money to fund the projects whichever still remain unimplemented. The government is nearly bankrupt with a sharply mounting debt burden touching Rs.73,000 crore. It functions by borrowing money from the reluctant financial institutions and the loss making State’s Boards and Corporations. The ruling leaders who have been vociferously criticising the Centre for ignoring Punjab’s interests have not been able to implement many centrally-funded schemes because of its failure to release matching grants. As against Rs.2150.90 crore recommended by the third state Finance Commission for the local bodies, the government released only Rs. 92.91 crore as share of state taxes to them during 2006-2011.

In his stepped-up “Sangat darshan” tours of Punjab’s rural areas, Badal has been on-the-spot dolling out cash grants worth crores which are not part of the State’s Plan and are financed mainly by diverting funds or by money borrowed from the corporate bodies. Such grants are not subjected to accountability.

This sorry state of Punjab’s governance reflects a wide gap between truth and hype. As it is too late to reverse the negative trends, the ruling combine will have to face their consequences in the coming elections. (IPA Service)