For Dhakki, it’s payback time

ludhiana: deras continue to have a role in influencing voting during elections. and with assembly polls right ahead in punjab, baba darshan singh dhakkiwala is all set to get even for incidents of outside interference in the dera. baba darshan singh had been offered a piece of land in dhakki village to build his dera four years back by the villagers, but this piece of land has remained a disputed property amongst two parties within the village.the case of course would have been settled within the village, if there had not been any interference from outside. the interference came from well-known politicians, jagdish singh garcha, the minister for technical education and his brother manna. garchas’ sister was married in dhakkiwala village, and is the sarpanch of the village. baba dhakkiwala had alleged that the family was responsible for attacking his dera and setting it on fire, and where holy guru granth sahib birs were also burnt in the process last year. if garcha, being a political leader, had been “instrumental� in meddling with religious affairs, then, it is baba dhakkiwala, the religious leader, who appears to be returning the compliment visa-vis political affairs now. baba is likely to deter voters from casting their ballot for garcha, as the former has a huge following in the constituency. baba dhakkiwala has been in the attack mode during his campaigning against garcha for the past month. in january he held a meeting at saholi village, where he had sent across his message to all his devotes that he intended to teach garcha the lesson of his life. a fortnight back, he held a large darbar in the qila raipur city, where 7,000-10,000 people gathered, and he gave a sermon against the liquor baron. on february 10, he is planning to hold another darbar at dehlon village in a big way to address his followers not to vote for garcha. meanwhile, it is learnt that gurdial kaur khangura, the congress candidate had been mulling a tieup with the baba. however, sources reveal that while he is not refusing khangura openly, he is not joining hands with her either. it has also been learnt that all the congress party activists in each of the 82 villages of the constituency have a cellphone and inform khangura if any liquor is distributed by garcha. khangura immediately informs the ec observer. it is learnt that maheshinder singh grewal of the panthic morcha, who is the sitting mla from ludhiana, has the backing of baba dhakkiwala. baba dhakkiwala’s assistant gurdeep singh, agreed that they were trying their best to cut out as many votes of garcha as possible, but did not put dhakkiwala on line. garcha, on the other hand said that he was aware of the goings on in his constituency, but was perplexed, as he had not been a party to the incidents. he said two of his sisters were married in that area, and one of them was a sarpanch, and he had merely tried to sort out the issue through peaceful talks.