SAD sets up five-member panel to analyse poll loss

PATIALA: The Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD’s) core committee has formed a five-member panel to analyse its poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections.
The panel comprises senior leaders Prem Singh Chandumajra, Tota Singh, Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Daljit Singh Cheema and Manjinder Singh Sirsa. The comittee will collect booth-level data and submit a detailed report to the core committee in 15 days.
Interacting with TOI, SAD general secretary Chandumajra said the panel will also suggests ways to help SAD consolidate lost ground before the next assembly polls.
He said the core committee felt the party should be strengthened by rising above the legislative setup. “It is being felt that the SAD, during its 10 years of power in Punjab, lost focus on organisational spirit and ideology, and its system deteriorated. There is a need to revive SAD and look within to find weaknesses which could affect prospects in the next elections,” Chandumajra said.
The party general secretary ruled out the possibility of sacrilege incidents denting SAD’s chances. “Going by election results, people of Punjab did not vote with sacrilege incidents in mind. Had it been so, they would not have voted for the Congress, which had committed a far more sacrilegious act of ordering the Army to attack the Darbar Sahib in 1984. However, there could be other reasons and the panel will discuss all that led to the loss at eight (of the 10) seats in Punjab,” he said.
Chandumajra accused the Congress of misusing government machinery. He claimed that former sarpanches were threatened of being implicated in false cases, and money and liquor flowed unabated to influence voters. “All these issues will be placed on record by the panel before it submits its report to the party leadership,” he said.
Overhaul on the cards?
SAD general secretary Prem Singh Chandumajra hinted at the panel making recommendations for an overhaul of the party’s organisational setup and the SAD undergoing a massive change in a few months if the suggestions were implemented. Besides, the panel might also suggest the implementation of new rules and regulations to improve the party’s performance.