Sudhar Lehar leaders showed BJP ties by campaigning for it in Jammu, says SAD

Jalandhar: SAD rebel group leaders Prem Singh Chandumajra and Gagan Ajit Singh Barnala’s alleged act of campaigning for a BJP candidate in Jammu on Friday led to a major controversy within Akali circles, with leaders of Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal’s camp claiming that the rebel group and its links to BJP had been exposed.In their attacks, leaders from Sukhbir’s camp repeatedly alleged that SAD Sudhar Lehar leaders had been taking directions from Nagpur, the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.Chandumajra sought to downplay his visit and said it had nothing to do with the BJP. Sudhar Lehar convener Gurpartap Singh Wadala said both leaders went there in personal capacity and had nothing to do with Sudhar Lehar, but they would seek an explanation from the two.Akali Dal chief spokesperson Arshdeep Singh Kler and party leader Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, while referring to Chandumajra and Barnala’s picture sitting against the backdrop of a BJP flag, said the cat was out of the bag and the visit substantiated their arguments from the beginning that the split in SAD was being carried out at the BJP’s behest. Kler asked Wadala and other Sudhar Lehar leaders if they were merging with the BJP or were having an alliance.Soon after he was criticised, Chandumajra released a video statement, claiming that he went there for a personal function and local Sikhs were there who said they had joined hands to help BJP candidate Dr Narinder Singh Raina.“The Congress candidate there had made objectionable remarks about Sikhs. Balwinder Singh Happy, in whose office we had gone (where his and Barnala’s picture was taken), had been contesting independently and had won also. Now also, he was contesting independently, but he withdrew from the fray as the community was on one side there. If people had united there, how could I object to that? But our friends (Sukhbir and his loyalists) are feeling the pain,” he said.Wadala said he would still seek a proper clarification. “Sudhar Lehar had discussed and decided not to participate in Haryana or Jammu and Kashmir elections. SAD had a long alliance with BJP, but that time it was never said it was following directions from Nagpur even as serious compromises were made on the earlier principled stand and positions by SAD on the issues of minorities and Sikhs. Earlier they used to call any dissenters Congress agents and did not even spare Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra, and now they brand everybody as BJP agent,” he added.