President of the Shiromani Akali Dal Sukhbir Singh Badal has convened a meeting of victorious party candidates on March 8 at Chandigarh, party secretary and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said on Tuesday.
This will be followed by a joint meeting of the newly elected legislators of the Akali Dal-BJP alliance, after which both the parties are expected to elect their leaders and formally stake claim to form the next government. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and other senior leaders of the party are scheduled to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple on March 9.
The Akali Dal, through a release, thanked the people on Tuesday for reiterating their overwhelming faith in the development agenda of the ruling coalition and creating history by giving a second term to an incumbent government for the first time in 46 years. It said the results were a stamp of approval for the pro-poor and pro-people policies of the government.
Promising to carry forward the development agenda, the Chief Minister and the Akali Dal president said the coalition was committed to fulfilling all the promises made in its election manifesto. The electorate had risen above party and personal affiliations to honour a coalition for accelerating development. This fresh mandate was a positive signal for the State.
On the other hand, Punjab Congress chief Capt. Amarinder Singh owned complete responsibility for the party's poor performance. Talking to reporters, he announced his decision to tender his resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi. Capt. Singh, who will turn 70 next week, also hinted at retiring from active politics.
Responding to questions, Capt. Singh agreed that the results were disappointing as the Congress rank and file was confident of forming the next government. A detailed analysis would reveal the impact of the People's Party of Punjab on the Congress prospects. He attributed the “surprising” number of BJP successes to the presence of large numbers of Congress rebels. Also, money power had benefited the ruling alliance, he alleged.
“Humbly” accepting the people's verdict, PPP chief Manpreet Singh Badal said the party was not disheartened by its performance in its maiden elections. It would undertake an in-depth analysis of the results and move on to prepare for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
