Akali faction cautions against unity attempts

LUDHIANA: Perturbed over reports of unity between SAD president Parkash Singh Badal and Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD) president Gurcharan Singh Tohra, panthic morcha leaders on Thursday opened front against the latter cautioning him not to compromise on the issue of upholding panthic traditions.
Addressing a news conference at the residence of veteran Akali leader Jagdev Singh Talwandi here, the leaders, including Ravi Inder Singh, Jasbir Singh Rode, Kuldip Singh Wadala, said they still did not believe the reports appearing in a section of the Press to this effect.If at all unity was to be brought about, all panthic outfits should be involved in this instead only those led by the duo, they said.
They termed Tohra’s latest stance as unprincipled, if there was truth in reports to this effect. Morcha convener Baba Sarabjot Singh Bedi was not present on the occasion.
‘‘However, we will approach Tohra in this regard soon as he had led them in offering ‘ardas’ at the Akal Takht resolving not to accept Badal’s leadership for undermining Sikh religious traditions during his tenure as the chief minister as well as the president of SAD,’’ they said.
Stating that they were not against unity in principle, Ravi Inder Singh reiterated their objection to Badal’s leadership. When asked about his acceptability among the Sikh masses as reflected in assembly polls, the leaders put forth that they had waged battle for upholding panthic traditions irrespective of political gains.
The purpose of Akali Dal is to serve interests of the Sikhs within the purview of the Constitution of India and as such their opposition to Badal’s hegemony in Sikh affairs is based on the latter’s disregard for what he was supposed to protect and promote, asserted Ravi Inder Singh.
Wadala, however, singled out SAD (A) president Simranjit Singh Mann for terming them as agents of the Congress party in his recent public utterances. Lashing out at Mann, Wadala counter-alleged that actually he was the agent of Badal, who had been trying to sabotage panthic morcha, as his party members voted against its candidate in the last SGPC presidential election.
Supporting him, the leaders went to the extent of calling him abnormal so far as his political character was concerned.
They also showed a photograph in which Mann is shown shaking hands with late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi allegedly after Operation Bluestar. When asked about his proximity with chief minister Amarinder Singh, Ravi sought to dispel this fact alleging serious doubts behind inaction against Badal by the state government in light of recent CAG report indicting misuse of public money to the tune of Rs 60 crore during his tenure as the chief minister.
On the one hand, the government was talking about arresting Badal for his acts of commission and omission, but on the other no action had been proposed in this regard, he said.