Takht-constituted committee mulls starting SAD membership drive
The month-long recruitment drive organised by the leaders from the Sukhbir Badal camp ended on February 25, and the party had proposed to hold the election of the party’s office bearer on March 1, but later deferred it. So far, no new date for the party’s internal polls has been announced.
The Akal Takht constituted committee has decided to work out the modalities to start the membership drive for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), after the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs on Saturday stated that as per the December 2 decree, they did not require the cooperation of the party’s existing leadership for the reorganisation.
The month-long recruitment drive organised by the leaders from the Sukhbir Badal camp ended on February 25, and the party had proposed to hold the election of the party’s office bearer on March 1, but later deferred it. So far, no new date for the party’s internal polls has been announced.
“Giani Raghbir Singh’s (Akal Takht jathedar) comment that the committee did not require the cooperation of the party’s existing leadership and the panel was free to initiate the process of recruitment on its own, says all and we are working in direction,” said Gurpartap Singh Wadala, a member of the seven-member committee constituted by the Akal Takht on December 2 last year while pronouncing tankhah (religious punishment) to Sukhbir and other Akali leaders for mistakes committed by the party and its government from 2007-17.
Wadala said five members of the committee will meet on Tuesday after visiting the Akal Takht and take a call on when to start the membership drive implying rejection of the recruitment drive conducted by the Sukhbir camp.
Two of the seven members— SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami and former SGPC president Kirpal Singh Badungar— have resigned and at present five members of the committee are Wadala, Manpreet Singh Ayali, Santa Singh Umaidpur, Iqbal Singh Jhoondan, and Bibi Satwant Kaur.
If the two members do not become part of the panel, then one of the remaining members will be appointed coordinator of the panel in the upcoming meeting of the Sikh clergy after discussion, Wadala added.
“The situation is very complex and we will hold a detailed discussion before taking any step. We might also go out and meet the Sikh masses to reach a consensus,” Wadala added. According to Balwinder Singh Bhundar, working president of the SAD, the party’s leaders will shortly meet and decide the way forward.
