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Satinder Bains in Chandigarh
The political flux in Uttar Pradesh has Punjab's politicians on tenterhooks.
It might look precariously stable for now, but a fall of the Rajnath Singh government and consequent assembly dissolution in Uttar Pradesh could mean early elections for Punjab as well.
The Election Commission might club assembly polls in the two states. The commission is empowered under the Representation of the People Act to hold elections any time within six months before schedule. Punjab is scheduled to go to the polls in January 2002.
While Rajnath Singh claims his government would survive the crisis precipitated by the sacking of a senior ally on Friday and Uttar Pradesh would go to the polls only around February next year, politicians in Punjab would not be surprised if elections become necessary much earlier.
A senior Punjab government functionary told IANS that political parties in the state were already anxiously awaiting the judgement of the Allahabad high court on a public interest petition about the tenure of the Uttar Pradesh assembly. The court's decision is expected any day now.
If the court upholds the petition's contention that the assembly's tenure ends earlier than the date the state government claims specify, elections in Uttar Pradesh would be held in October.
Prem Singh Chandumajra, general secretary of the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal, said that in the changed political scenario in Uttar Pradesh, announcement of elections could even precede the court verdict.
A couple of days ago state Finance Minister Kanwaljit Singh had in an informal chat with journalists said that if early polls are held in Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission may also order early balloting in Punjab.
While parties in Punjab have already begun preparing for the elections, no one really wants early polls.
Political observers said the early campaign launched by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal made sense in the light of the sudden developments in Uttar Pradesh. Badal, they said, might have anticipated the situation though he himself has been continuously denying the possibility of early polls.
Badal had started his election campaign two months ago.
Political observers felt the developments in Uttar Pradesh are bound to create panic in the Punjab unit of the opposition Congress, which is far behind the ruling Akali Dal as far as preparations for the elections are concerned.
The paddy procurement season in Punjab would be over by October end and the state may be ready for elections immediately thereafter, possibly in early November. Going by the ruling Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance's statements of late, the elections are certainly round the corner.
Badal had on Wednesday announced the schedule for district-level political conferences beginning September 1. And on Friday, senior BJP leaders, including state party president Brij Lal Rinwa, called on Badal to demand abolition of octroi.
The government is expected to take a decision on octroi abolition in its meeting next week.
Indo-Asian News Service
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