Akal Takht-appointed panel starts SAD membership drive

Chandigarh, Mar 18 (PTI) The Akal Takht-constituted committee on Tuesday started a membership drive for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Amritsar.
     The committee comprising MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali, Iqbal Singh Jhunda, Santa Singh Umaidpur, Gurpartap Singh Wadala and Satwant Kaur started the drive after offering prayers at the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs.
     The 'ardas' (prayer) was performed by Giani Harpreet Singh, the former Akal Takht Jathedar, who was removed from the post by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on February 10. Singh became the first member of SAD under the drive.
     Then spiritual leader Baba Sewa Singh and Baba Sarbjot Singh Bedi became the members of the party.
     The membership form used by the panel mentions 'Membership Shiromani Akali Dal (Bharti Committee)' with office at Amritsar and Chandigarh.
     The new membership drive was started by the Akal Takht-appointed panel even as SAD has been already carrying out the membership drive for the past two months.
     While pronouncing religious punishment for SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal and other leaders for the "mistakes" committed by SAD and its government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017 on December 2 last year, the Akal Takht had also formed a seven-member committee for starting the membership drive and holding the elections for the post of party president and other office-bearers within six months.
     Two members of the committee -- SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami and former SGPC chief Kirpal Singh Badungar -- later resigned from the committee.
     But the SAD working committee in January formed its own panel to oversee the membership drive with dissident Akali leaders accusing SAD of not complying with the Akal Takht's December 2 edict pertaining to reorganising SAD.
     The then Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh had asked the working committee of the SAD to make functional the panel appointed to supervise the party's new membership drive.
     Giani Raghbir Singh was removed from his post earlier this month by the SGPC.
     SAD working president Balwinder Singh Bhundar again appealed to all estranged Akali leaders to rejoin it and become part of its membership drive following a unity call given by Akal Takht Sahib Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj.
     In a statement here, Bhundar welcomed the appeal made by Gargaj to effect 'panthic' unity.
     "Jathedar Sahib had earlier also appealed for unity during his address on the occasion of Holla Mohalla. Now he has repeated the same. It is our duty to do our utmost to fulfil this directive", said Bhundar.
     The working president said, "Essentially the 'Singh Sahiban' had also earlier called for 'panthic' unity. Now Jathedar Gargaj has also voiced a similar sentiment.
     "I feel all of us should leave aside our differences and work towards achieving this goal to strengthen 'panthic' forces and defeat those who want to weaken Sikh institutions as well as the SAD," Jathedar Gargaj said.
     He appealed to all estranged Akali leaders to become part of the membership drive being conducted by the party.
     "They are welcome to collect membership copies from the SAD head office and get them filled in order to get them filled accordingly," he said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)