Kaur — a three-time former SGPC president, former Cupboard minister, and MLA from Bholath in Kapurthala district — is one in all a number of leaders whom the Badals have expelled from the occasion lately. In November 2018, senior chief Sewa Singh Sekhwan was sacked from the occasion and inside per week Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, one other senior Taksali chief, was let go. The next month, the SAD expelled Rattan Singh Ajnala and some others for questioning the selections of occasion president Sukhbir Singh Badal. These leaders banded collectively and shaped the SAD (Taksali) however the occasion didn’t make an affect.
The voices of dissent, nonetheless, didn’t cease there and in February 2020 the occasion’s working committee member and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and his son Parminder Singh Dhindsa, an MLA, have been expelled for publicly questioning the SAD high brass. Dhindsa and SAD (Taksali) leaders shaped the SAD (Sanyukt) in Could 2021. The outfit contested the Meeting elections earlier this 12 months in alliance with the BJP and former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress however couldn’t open its account.
“All of the episodes one after one other point out that SAD leaders desire a change in management to revamp the occasion and therefore insurgent voices are rising louder … It’s excessive time that the SAD self-introspects,” mentioned a senior occasion functionary on the situation of anonymity.
Kaur’s expulsion has solely served to carry the main target sharply again on the Badals and the requires a management change. Within the aftermath of the occasion’s debacle within the Meeting polls wherein it gained simply three seats, the bottom ever, Sukhbir Singh Badal arrange a evaluate panel below the chairmanship of Iqbal Singh Jhundan. The 13-member committee, in a report submitted in July, didn’t advocate any change within the high management and authorised Badal to “take the mandatory follow-up motion on the implementation of the committee’s suggestions”.
Following the disciplinary motion towards her, Kaur claimed that the SAD had turn into a “one-man occasion”. On the centre of her tussle with the previous Punjab deputy chief minister is the management of the SGPC, whose president is elected for a one-year tenure by the organisation’s common physique. Although the SGPC members’ polls are speculated to be held each 5 years, they haven’t been organised since 2011. At current, 157 of the 170 SGPC members are SAD-backed candidates and the president is invariably an individual chosen by the occasion president. The SGPC is the apex Sikh physique that’s liable for the administration of gurdwaras in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh.
In 1999, Kaur turned the primary lady to steer the SGPC. She served the publish once more in 2004-’05 and 2020-’21. She is amongst these pushing for elections to be held. She has claimed that SGPC members have made up their minds to elect a president fairly than agreeing to assist the one chosen by the Badals. The SGPC common physique is about to fulfill at Teja Singh Samundari Corridor in Amritsar on November 9 to elect a president.
In line with the SAD’s disciplinary committee, Kaur was making a play for the SGPC president’s publish and was assembly with the non secular physique’s members on her personal for the previous three months. The SAD alleged that BJP leaders Iqbal Singh Lalpura and Sarchand Singh Khiyala had additionally approached SGPC members to induce them to vote in Kaur’s favour.
SAD chief Manpreet Singh Ayali, who was one of many members of the Jhundan committee, questioned the occasion for performing towards Kaur over her alleged hyperlinks with the BJP whereas it supported Droupadi Murmu’s candidature for the publish of President of India regardless that she was the nominee of the BJP-led Nationwide Democratic Alliance (NDA). The BJP was not involved concerning the problems with Sikhs, Ayali claimed.
Requested concerning the Kaur episode, SAD spokesperson Daljeet Singh Cheema mentioned, “I, together with senior SAD chief Surjit Singh Rakhra, went to persuade Bibi ji to not contest this time however she was adamant. Little question the occasion is passing by means of a tough patch presently and we have to revamp it fully however that doesn’t imply that somebody will ship self-discipline for a toss. If a senior chief does this, what bigger message does it ship to junior leaders? Social gathering self-discipline is of utmost significance and we can’t tolerate this kind of indiscipline. Due motion was taken after a lot deliberation.”