02-13-2007, 01:14 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Sacha Sauda's support to Cong may tilt scales in Malwa </b>
Pioneer News Service | Chandigarh
<b>The decision of the Dera Sacha Sauda (Sirsa), a religious sect, to support the Congress in the Punjab election may prove costly for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), particularly in Malwa region, which has about 65 seats, out of the total 117 seats of the Punjab Assembly.</b>
This announcement by the political affairs wing of Dera has set panic in the SAD and its alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), <b>forcing BJP's national general secretary and in-charge of Punjab Arun Jaitley to rush to Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa along with Navjot Sidhu, BJP's candidate from Amritsar parliamentary constituency. They reportedly approached Baba Gurmeet Singh with a request that he change his decision but he had already left for Kota in Rajasthan</b>.
<b>Dera Sacha Sauda's followers who number more than 25 lakh are stated to have over 14 lakh votes. A major chunk of voters reside in the Malwa belt.</b> The constituencies which come under the Malwa belt, include the districts of Bhatinda, Mansa, Barnala, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Ferozpore, Ludhiana and Ropar. In these places candidates belonging to the SAD-BJP alliance would be affected as they may not find ways to counter the margins.<b> In many of the constituencies Sacha Sauda has votes ranging from 15,000 to 25,000.</b>
In an Assembly election, where elections are fought fiercely and closely, the dreams of many of the SAD-BJP alliance candidates would be shattered.<b> Congress candidates exude confidence and their body language indicates how much they would benefit.</b> By this we can say that Malwa results this time are going the Congress way, severally affecting the chances of SAD candidates.
Malwa region had always remained the backbone of the SAD. But since the 2002 Assembly elections the voters have started drifting away from the SAD. In the 2002 elections of the total 65 seats in the Malwa region, Congress candidates won
30 seats, while SAD could retained 35. Thus it was for the first time the SAD leadership got a big jolt from the Amarinder Singh-led Congress. <b>In the 1997 Assembly elections, the SAD had got 58 out of the 65 seats in the Malwa belt, when the SAD total strength in the Punjab Assembly was 87 seats.</b>
<b>Political observers feel that the Congress was going to win at least 50 seats.</b> The reason for the shift in the Panthic-farming community votes was mainly due to is two issues: Firstly, Amarinder Singh got the Punjab River Water Termination Act 2004 passed, annulling all previous river water agreements with Punjab. With this historical decision Amarinder Singh saved the six lakh families in the Malwa belt from being ruined and also saved 16 lakh acres of fertile land from becoming a desert. Secondly: with the sowing of Bt. Cotton the output increased to 27 lakh cotton bales from just seven lakh bales during the Badal regime which ended in 2002.
<b>Before approaching Saucha Suda Dera, Badal even approached Satgur Jagjit Singh Chief Namdharis, Bhaini Sahib. Similarly, the followers of Radhaswami Sect and Nirankari Sect, who have a large following among both Hindus as well as Sikhs, generally vote en block in favour of the Congress</b>.
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Pioneer News Service | Chandigarh
<b>The decision of the Dera Sacha Sauda (Sirsa), a religious sect, to support the Congress in the Punjab election may prove costly for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), particularly in Malwa region, which has about 65 seats, out of the total 117 seats of the Punjab Assembly.</b>
This announcement by the political affairs wing of Dera has set panic in the SAD and its alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), <b>forcing BJP's national general secretary and in-charge of Punjab Arun Jaitley to rush to Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa along with Navjot Sidhu, BJP's candidate from Amritsar parliamentary constituency. They reportedly approached Baba Gurmeet Singh with a request that he change his decision but he had already left for Kota in Rajasthan</b>.
<b>Dera Sacha Sauda's followers who number more than 25 lakh are stated to have over 14 lakh votes. A major chunk of voters reside in the Malwa belt.</b> The constituencies which come under the Malwa belt, include the districts of Bhatinda, Mansa, Barnala, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Ferozpore, Ludhiana and Ropar. In these places candidates belonging to the SAD-BJP alliance would be affected as they may not find ways to counter the margins.<b> In many of the constituencies Sacha Sauda has votes ranging from 15,000 to 25,000.</b>
In an Assembly election, where elections are fought fiercely and closely, the dreams of many of the SAD-BJP alliance candidates would be shattered.<b> Congress candidates exude confidence and their body language indicates how much they would benefit.</b> By this we can say that Malwa results this time are going the Congress way, severally affecting the chances of SAD candidates.
Malwa region had always remained the backbone of the SAD. But since the 2002 Assembly elections the voters have started drifting away from the SAD. In the 2002 elections of the total 65 seats in the Malwa region, Congress candidates won
30 seats, while SAD could retained 35. Thus it was for the first time the SAD leadership got a big jolt from the Amarinder Singh-led Congress. <b>In the 1997 Assembly elections, the SAD had got 58 out of the 65 seats in the Malwa belt, when the SAD total strength in the Punjab Assembly was 87 seats.</b>
<b>Political observers feel that the Congress was going to win at least 50 seats.</b> The reason for the shift in the Panthic-farming community votes was mainly due to is two issues: Firstly, Amarinder Singh got the Punjab River Water Termination Act 2004 passed, annulling all previous river water agreements with Punjab. With this historical decision Amarinder Singh saved the six lakh families in the Malwa belt from being ruined and also saved 16 lakh acres of fertile land from becoming a desert. Secondly: with the sowing of Bt. Cotton the output increased to 27 lakh cotton bales from just seven lakh bales during the Badal regime which ended in 2002.
<b>Before approaching Saucha Suda Dera, Badal even approached Satgur Jagjit Singh Chief Namdharis, Bhaini Sahib. Similarly, the followers of Radhaswami Sect and Nirankari Sect, who have a large following among both Hindus as well as Sikhs, generally vote en block in favour of the Congress</b>.
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