Water+politics: It's getting muddy

NEW DELHI: One meeting, two versions:On Wednesday, when an Akali Dal delegation met BJP leaders A B Vajpayee, L KAdvani Jaswant Singh and NDA convener George Fernandes, the BJP leaders made itclear that they want its ally to oppose Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh''scancellation of water sharing accords.They added that they had toldthe Punjab BJP unit also to oppose the cancellation as it was "not in nationalinterest," party spokesperson Sushma Swaraj said. (When the accord was cancelledby the Amarinder Singh government, the BJP and Akali Dal had bothsupported the move.)However, former Akali Dal minister S S Dhindsa,who was present at the meeting, said: "We are with the Punjab government on thisissue because hamare saath dhoka hua tha."He added the Akali Dal hadappealed to the BJP''s national leadership not to intervene in the matter. "Wetold them that if they wanted they could ask their state units in Rajasthan andHaryana (states which have been adversely affected by the cancellation of theaccord) to raise the issue if they liked."What was the BJP''sresponse? "Positive," said Dhindsa. For the BJP, which is using the cancellationof the accords to embarrass the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre, thereis, however, another angle to the problem — the assembly elections due inHaryana next year.The national leadership needs to look as though itis closely identifying with the Haryanvi people. In the recent generalelections, the BJP broke its alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal andmanaged to win just one seat. Now, party sources say the leadership feels itshould cosy upto INLD''s Om Prakash Chautala again, and together take on Congresson what will be an emotional issue.With the Punjab polls still awhile away, BJP feels it is better to focus on Haryana''s interests — as itwould also serve its interests at the Centre, not to mention Rajasthan, wherethere is a BJP government in power.