Chandigarh, July 17 :     Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has been caught in a precarious situation with the demand for more autonomy being voiced again. Badal has managed to keep his faction of the Shiromani Akali Dal out of the autonomy controversy, which could plunge Punjab into militancy again. But All-India Shiromani Akali Dal chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra has demanded that the Punjab Assembly take a leaf out of Farooq Abdullah's book and adopt a similar resolution. The Anandpur Sahib resolution should be the guiding spirit. 'Punjab has for long been demanding autonomy. We have been termed secessionists for no rhyme or reason,' he said. Tohra dismissed the idea that such a resolution would have secessionist overtones. 'It will go a long way in lending the country a truly federal structure and making it stronger. The Centre should debate on the Jammu and Kashmir resolution with an open mind,' he said. The Punjab Assembly had adopted a resolution in 1977, demanding that the state be granted 'fiscal, legislative and political' autonomy. But it had stopped short of identifying which departments should be the exclusive prerogative of the Centre. The Akalis have been demanding that only communication, defence, currency and foreign affairs departments should be with the Centre. The 1977 resolution had also demanded that Article 356 of the Constitution, which empowers the Centre to dismiss the state government, be scrapped. The resolution, however, was never forwarded to the Centre for endorsement and hence did not cause much flutter in political circles. The move to place a resolution in the Assembly was then spearheaded by Badal, who was the chief minister, and was supported by the BJP's earlier avatar, the Jan Sangh, which was an alliance partner in the Punjab government. The 1977 Punjab resolution had also sought legislative and fiscal autonomy by stating that it would help in strengthening the federal structure. While Tohra has stopped short of demanding special status for Punjab as demanded by Jammu and Kashmir, party leaders insist that the next Assembly session is likely to raise a storm on the issue. 'If you give more powers to Jammu and Kashmir, then there is no way you can ignore Punjab. The Centre has finally been caught in a Catch-22 situation. Largesse to Jammu and Kashmir would spell trouble in Punjab,' a senior leader warned. Sikh intellectuals have joined the autonomy chorus. 'Where is the Constitution for the Sikhs?' asked Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon, president of the Institute of Sikh Studies. 'The system prevalent now has seeds of disintegration. For everything states have to run to the Centre,' he added. While Badal is maintaining a stoic silence on legislative and political autonomy, he has demanded more fiscal powers to states. 'But Badal cannot ask for more. After all, he has to depend on the Centre for his own survival and the BJP-led government has already said it cannot provide more powers to states other than fiscal which, too, will be deliberated first,' a Badal aide said.