Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal supremo Prakash Singh Badal has come under fire from senior party colleagues for having shown “undue haste in unilaterally announcing” the decision to vote against the UPA during the confidence vote in Lok Sabha on July 22.
Badal came under strong criticism from SAD leader in the Lok Sabha S.S. Dhindsa, Punjab Cooperation Minister Captain Kanwaljit Singh, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Avtar Singh Makkar and former minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan at the party’s core committee meeting held in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
“These leaders objected to the undue haste shown by Badal in announcing the decision to vote against the UPA government during the vote of confidence, without consulting his colleagues. They said an issue involving a Sikh prime minister should have been handled with patience”, party sources present at the meeting said.
The Shiromani Akali Dal, which is a part of the opposition BJP-led NDA and has eight Lok Sabha MPs, was under pressure from various Sikh groups across the world not to oppose the India-US nuclear deal and Sikh Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.
However, Badal had put an end to all such moves on July 10 itself, when he had made it clear that though a final decision would be taken by party leaders on July 15, “in the event of voting, the party will support the NDA. All decisions taken by the NDA would be acceptable to the party”.
{{/usCountry}}However, Badal had put an end to all such moves on July 10 itself, when he had made it clear that though a final decision would be taken by party leaders on July 15, “in the event of voting, the party will support the NDA. All decisions taken by the NDA would be acceptable to the party”.
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