Akali Dal issues whip to vote against govt

By Our Special Correspondent

CHANDIGARH

July 18: Amidst pressure from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and reports that some of its MPs had been offered huge bribes to vote for the UPA, the Shiromani Akali Dal has issued a whip asking all eight Lok Sabha members to be present in Parliament and to vote against the Manmohan Singh government.

While Punjab chief minister and Akali Dal’s patron Parkash Singh Badal refused to elaborate on why it had become necessary to issue the whip, especially after his confident proclamation on Tuesday that there was full consensus within the party, senior Akali sources confirmed the decision had to be taken after it became known that "attempts were on to lure MPs with crores of rupees".

Though there are no details about who was offering the money, sources said a senior Akali Dal MP who is not likely to contest for another term was promised "a huge purse" in return for his vote.

Evidently exercised with the developments, Mr Badal and several senior leaders of the party, including Sukhbir Badal and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, were closeted and planning strategy in the chief minister’s residence at Chandigarh for most part of Friday. Following the meeting the whip was issued and communicated to the BJP’s Punjab in charge, Mr Balbir Punj.