Akal Takht-formed panel to meet today over SAD drive

The Akal Takht-constituted panel to oversee the SAD’s restructuring will hold its maiden meeting in Patiala on Tuesday to deliberate on the role the committee could play after the party rejected it, said rebel Akali leader Gurpartap Singh Wadala on Monday.

The remarks came days after the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) initiated its month-long membership drive after rejecting the seven-member panel constituted by the temporal seat, citing legal and constitutional complications in accepting the order.

In a decree on December 2, the temporal seat had asked the committee headed by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Harjinder Singh Dhami to initiate a six-month membership drive, which was to be followed by the party’s restructuring.

The panel included rebel Akali leaders. Earlier, Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh had condemned the party’s move, asking it to follow the edict “in totality”.

Dhami, who is also a SAD member and associated with the party’s membership drive, had told mediapersons on January 31 after the party’s working committee meeting in Chandigarh that the committee’s meeting would be held soon.

Wadala said all committee members “are on the same page and have refused to toe the SAD line”.

“They have already refused to acknowledge the duties assigned to them (as part of the membership drive) by the SAD’s working committee,” he said.

The other members of the committee who are expected to attend the meeting are former SGPC chief Kirpal Singh Badungar, Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Iqbal Singh Jhunda, Manpreet Singh Ayali, Santa Singh Umaidpur and Satwant Kaur.

“The main agenda will be to discuss the present scenario and the role to be played by the Akal Takht-ordered committee in the membership drive,” Wadala said.

Wadala said that the SAD membership drive, a precursor to the organisational polls slated for March 20, could not be held legitimate and was a futile exercise.

“The membership drive is a sham exercise. It has to be started again under the authority and supervision of the members nominated by the Akal Takht,” the rebel Akali leader said.