SAD core committee to meet today to discuss murder bid

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has scheduled an emergency meeting of its core committee to discuss all the aspects of the assassination bid on former Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal on December 4. But it fell short of meeting the deadline set by the Akal Takht on taking a call on the resignations of Sukhbir and other Akali leaders that are lying pending.

Party’s spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said that the core committee meeting to be presided over by working president Balwinder Singh Bhunder would be held at 3.30 pm tomorrow at the party’s head office in Chandigarh. The sole item on the agenda would be to discuss the murder bid on the party’s chief.

The party’s working committee was supposed to report back to the Akal Takht on its decision on the resignations by December 5.

While pronouncing ‘tankhah’ on Sukhbir and other “guilty” Akali leaders on December 2, Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh had ordered the SAD working committee to accept the resignation of the party chief (Sukhbir) and others within three days and inform the Akal Takht.

Clarifying it, party spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said that after the pronouncement of the order, it was submitted to the Akal Takht Jathedar later to give relaxation on the pending resignations for at least two weeks.

“On December 2, we had requested that the decision on the pending resignations will be taken after the completion of the ‘tankhah’ as all the working committee members and senior leaders would be engaged in it. Our request was accepted by the Jathedar,” he said.

Sukhbir, who was declared ‘tankhaiya’ (guilty of religious misconduct) by the Akal Takht on August 30, had tendered his resignation on November 16, but the working committee’s decision is pending till date. Similarly, former MLAs Harmeet Singh Sandhu (Tarn Taran) and Anil Joshi (Amritsar) had resigned on November 19 and November 20, respectively, but the decision is pending.