Amritpal's father inspects Maghi Mela site

Khalistan sympathiser and Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha MP Amripal Singh’s father Tarsem Singh on Wednesday visited the site a proposed Maghi Mela conference, where the jailed lawmaker’s supporters are set to launch a political outfit.

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Named as the Shiromani Akali Dal (Anandpur Sahib), the move is being seen as an attempt to grab the Panthic space from Punjab’s former ruling party Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), whose voter base among the Sikhs has shrunk in recent years.

The MP, who is currently lodged in the Assam’s Dirbugarh jail under the stringent National Security Act, had won the Lok Sabha election held last year by a huge margin, defeating the SAD candidate.

The SAD’s vote base among Sikhs has declined in recent years following a string of controversies over the desecration of religious during its rule in 2015.

The conference by the Amritpal supporters is being held parallel to a SAD event.

Inspecting the site near the district administrative complex on the Bathinda-Kotkapura bypass road, Tarsem Singh appealed to the public to make the event a success.

"Sukhbir Badal first admitted his sins before the Akal Takht and now claiming in his speeches that he is innocent. I think he is not a true Sikh,” he said while talking to reporters.