Chandigarh: The five-member committee appointed by the Akal Takht - the supreme temporal seat of Sikhs - unanimously elected Giani Harpreet Singh, the former acting Jathedar of Akal Takht, as the president of the breakaway faction of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Amritsar on Monday.
Also, Satwant Kaur – daughter of the former president of the All India Sikh Students Federation, Amrik Singh, who was killed in Operation Bluestar in 1984 - was elected as the chairperson of the ``Panthic Council’’ – the religious wing - of the faction in the delegates session of the SAD breakaway group which was attended by a large number of party delegates and leaders.
The leaders included former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chiefs Bibi Jagir Kaur and Gobind Singh Longowal and others including Prem Singh Chandumajra, Parminder Dhindsa, Manpreet Singh Ayali and Surjit Singh Rakhra.
The development held significance as the group led by Giani Harpreet Singh is now being seen as a parallel entity to the SAD led by Sukhbir Badal and as a challenge to the latter's authority.
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It may be recalled that Sukhbir had resigned as SAD president on November 16, 2024, ahead of receiving religious punishment (tankhah) from Akal Takht which had on December 2, 2024 pronounced Sukhbir and others ``guilty’’ Akali leaders as ``tankhaiya’’, directed the SAD working committee to accept Sukhbir’s resignation and hold fresh polls for SAD office-bearers within six months.
Notably, Giani Harpreet Singh, also former Jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, was part of the Sikh clergy that had declared Sukhbir and other SAD leaders as ``tankhaiya’’ (guilty of religious misconduct).
The Akal Takht committee included rebel Akali leaders which through an edict issued on December 2, 2024, directed SAD to hold organisational elections and undertake a membership drive.
However, the SAD which rejected the Takht-constituted committee, formed its own committee and undertook a membership drive, also re-elected Sukhbir party president in April, this year.; The Takht committee also carried its own membership drive.
