NORTH- Alliance for Expediency

October 20, 1973 OUT of sheer expediency, most of the opposition groups in Punjab have formed an alliance against the Congress which commands a majority of 65 in the 104-member Assembly, The first concerted action of the alliance consisted in disturbing a public meeting organised for Indira Gandhi at Amritsar on September 29. No secret is made either of the intention to repeat such disruptive tactics at every conceivable opportunity. While approving of the disturbance tactic, G S Tohra, MP and president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (which controls all the Sikh places of worship with their earnings amounting to crores of rupees) asserted early this month that the Akalis had no "political differences" with the Jan Sangh. He also claimed identity of views with the Socialist Party and the CPM, both of which are minor groups in this region. The Akalis have even welcomed the efforts of George Fernandes. Socialist Party chairman, at forging the maximum possible unity among the opposition groups " though the Socialists have no ideological affinity whatever with the Akalis who mostly comprise landlords and other Rightist elements who an* anxious mainly to safeguard the religious and political interests of the Sikhs.