Sukhbir missing from campaign

Syed Ali Ahmed

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 23

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has been conspicuous by his absence from campaigning for the February 26 DSGMC elections.

An official in his office here said Sukhbir was presently in Delhi, but he was not scheduled to take part in campaigning, which ends tomorrow. Party sources said he would only meet some influential Sikhs.

When contacted, DSGMC chief Manjit Singh GK said, “The Aam Aadmi Party has created a hurdle for us by contending that any party contesting the gurdwara elections must be registered as a religious party, which the SAD isn’t. We got the election symbol only after the court’s intervention. This is why our political leaders are not involved in campaigning. Religious leaders such as SGPC president Kirpal Singh Badungar are doing the job for the party.”

In the 2013 elections, Sukhbir was involved in campaigning. The party manifesto had been released at his residence on the Safdarjung Road.

Meanwhile, sources said the SAD was split into two groups – one led by GK and the other by DSGMC general secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

Sirsa, who is contesting from Punjabi Bagh against SAD (Delhi) president Paramjit Singh Sarna, and Kuldip Singh Bhogal are the only SAD leaders who have used the Badals’ photos in their election posters. The remaining 44 SAD candidates have not done so.

The Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda’s support to the SAD and the incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in Punjab are among the key issues being highlighted by the SAD’s rivals.