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Gujral to visit Jalandhar to shore up support

When Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral visits Jalandhar on Sunday for the second leg of his campaign in the constituency, he would call on a senior Akali leader opposed to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to firm up his support during the February 16 poll.

Kuldip Singh Wadala, once a confidante of the Punjab chief minister, parted company with Badal on the eve of the Punjab assembly election last year.

Wadala has already assured his support to Gujral during their meeting in Jalandhar on January 22.

He said today that he would "welcome" Gujral at his home in Jalandhar on Sunday morning.

The Akali leader, who unsuccessfully contested the assembly election from Nakodar as an Independent, managing to get about 10,000 votes, said he would mobilise his party activists in strength in welcoming Gujral.

Besides Nakodar, Wadala could also mobilise support for the prime minister in the remaining four rural assembly segments under the Jalandhar parliamentary constituency and in Jalandhar Cantonment, which also has a considerable strength of rural voters.

Wadala said the prime minister had telephoned him this morning to confirm the Sunday meeting.

However, Sukhjinder Singh, another senior Akali leader of Doaba, who is also opposed to the chief minister, has taken a stridently anti-Gujral stand.

Like Wadala, Singh also parted company with Badal on the eve of the assembly election. He enjoys considerable support in Kapurthala, Kartarpur, and to some extent, in the Sultanpur Lodhi assembly segments, all parts of the Jalandhar constituency.

Singh said Gujral had "tricked" the Jalandhar voters with his "Punjabiat card" in 1989.

After becoming foreign minister in the V P Singh Cabinet, Gujral "forgot" about his constituency and had "abandoned" his voters during the difficult days of militancy, he said.

Instead of seeking re-election from Jalandhar in 1991, Gujral "fled" to Patna where his Lok Sabha election was countermanded due to "rigging charges," Sukhjinder Singh said, adding that Gujral dared not contest the 1992 elections from Jalandhar because the Akalis boycotted the poll.

With such a track record, how could Jalandhar voters trust Gujral? Singh asked.

Unlike Wadala, who set up his Akali Dal (Democratic) party, Sukhjinder Singh remains an unattached Akali leader. He is also related to Congress nominee Umrao Singh. His son Sukhpal Singh has married the sister of Umrao Singh's daughter-in-law.

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