Chandigarh, October 27
Punjab Chief Minister and SAD President Parkash Singh Badal and the SGPC chief Jagdev Singh Talwandi today continued to differ on the holding of a probe into the incidents of sacrilege relating to the Baba Piara Singh Bhaniara case.
It was the third Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting of the dal within this month, where besides discussion on various other important issues pertaining to the coming elections and the Baba Piara Singh Bhaniara case, there were deliberations on the differences between the dal and the SGPC leadership in probing the series of incidents of sacrilege.
The two dal leaders were successful in presenting a united face though they continued to differ over the sacrilege issue.
After today’s meeting, the Punjab Chief Minister said he had no objection to the SGPC going ahead with its probe by a three-member panel. The SGPC chief, too, reiterated that the SGPC panel would conduct its probe independently.
The PAC, at its last meeting on October 22, had decided to entrust the probe to a one-member judicial commission headed by Mr K.S. Bhalla, a retired Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, after the high court expressed its inability to spare a sitting Judge for the purpose.
Mr Badal today denied that he had ever approached Mr
Talwandi for disbanding the three-member panel announced by him after an executive committee meeting of the SGPC early this month.
Political circles in general and the dal in particular were agog with speculation over the growing differences between the dal and the SGPC chief after Mr Jagdev Singh Talwandi left the October 7, PAC meeting midway.
Yesterday, both Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Mr Talwandi had a closed-door meeting in Amritsar. The meeting was organised at the instance of Mr Ranjit Singh Talwandi, a son of the SGPC chief.
With the SGPC elections round the corner, Mr Talwandi’s meeting with Mr Parkash Singh Badal yesterday and his presence in the PAC meeting today are significant developments as Mr Badal refused to name the candidate for the SGPC presidentship the election to which is to be held before November 30. Today Mr Badal maintained that he had never interfered in the working of the SGPC and said that the SGPC panel was free to go ahead with its probe.
Though the SGPC executive is dominated by the pro-Badal group, at its October 23 meeting. It endorsed the setting up of a three-member probe panel to send alarming signals to the ruling party. Efforts were launched to defuse the crisis.
Unlike the October 22 meeting, today’s meeting was well attended. Later, in an informal chat with newsmen, Mr Talwandi said that he would consult Mr Badal before convening the general house meeting of the SGPC to hold the annual elections before November 30.
About the differences between Mr Badal and Mr Talwandi, Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder, MP, General Secretary of the dal, said . “They are like brothers and there are no differences among them. It is all media creation,”.
