Continuing our analysis of the Punjab elections, we spoke to Ramesh Vinayak for a post-mortem of the results. Here is a summary of what he said about the challenges for Captain, as the new incumbent, as well as for the SAD:
Captain Amarinder Singh has his work cut out for him. First of all, there is his election promise of cleansing Punjab of the synthetic drug "chitta", within four weeks of assuming power. It does seem like an impossible task, but then, perhaps the scale of the drug problem is also over-inflated, due to reasons of political expediency.
A bigger problem than that of drugs for Captain Amarinder Singh is the long standing water dispute: now that the Supreme Court has ruled that the Satluj Yamuna Link must be constructed, this could go on to become a huge crisis for the new Punjab government because regardless of which party has been in power in Punjab, the bipartisan stance is that "not one drop of water will be given away", because Punjab doesn't have any water left!
It is likely that Navjot Singh Sidhu will be anointed Deputy CM or given another senior position in the Punjab cabinet, when the new ministry takes oath on March 16.
And the fact is that Sidhu is a charismatic leader, who has won the seat of Amritsar East by the second biggest margin in these elections (Captain won by the largest margin in Patiala). Therefore, Sidhu is likely to be rewarded for his support to the Congress.
That said, the Captain commands a very strong position now, and whatever he says or wants, will certainly happen. The central leadership of Congress party is very tenuous and even they see Punjab as their ray of hope - so its not hard to imagine that the Captain will have the major say in how Punjab will be governed.
Navjot Singh Sidhu has always been very cordial with Captain Amarinder Singh and has likened himself to being "his son". I think they will work well together and Sidhu won't pose any threat for Captain.
Talking about the Shiromani Akali Dal - it is probably a party in crisis. It made some serious errors of judgement while ruling the state during the last ten years. The one that immediately comes to mind was Sukhbir Badal's pet project of making people "Halka in-charge", which in turn created a parallel government in Punjab and almost scoffed at the concept of democracy.
Then there were so many scandals in Punjab - drugs, sand, cable, transport and more -- that became associated not just with the Akali regime, but with the Badal family. Then over the last two years, there were many cases of desecration of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Neither were further incidents prevented from happening, nor were the culprits brought to justice. All in all, this gave rise to such a wave of anger against the Akalis and specifically the Badals, that for the first time in the state's political history, SAD has been relegated to third place.
This is the first time in Parkash Singh Badal's long political career of 60 years that he won't be leader of the Opposition in Punjab, after losing the elections.
So I believe these elections are a huge wake-up call for the Akalis. They will have to introspect on what went wrong, and they can't even take their position in the state for granted, since they now have to compete with AAP while occupying a small space in the Opposition. There may be revolt from within the party and questions maybe asked if the Akali leadership should remain wedded to the Badal family or should a new leader be given a chance. Sukhbir Badal's leadership is under a real threat. So I foresee a very challenging time ahead for the Shiromani Akali Dal in the near future.
Mr Ramesh Vinayak is the Resident Editor of Hindustan Times, Chandigarh, who has providied expert analysis of various issues relating to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections 2017. The views expressed here are those of Mr Ramesh Vinayak, not of SBS's: you can hear his interview by clicking on the link above.
Mr Ramesh Vinayak, RE Hindustan Times, Chandigarh Source: Supplied
