M A I N   N E W S

MAJITHA BYELECTION
SHSAD men support Cong
by Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

MAJITHA, FEB 13 — Many leaders and workers of the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD) have come in support of Congress candidate Shavinder Singh Kathunangal, making the crucial byelection even more interesting.

Mr Darshan Singh Isapur, a former General Secretary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and executive member, SHSAD, was seen with senior Congress leaders Partap Singh Bajwa, General Secretary, PPCC, and Mr Devinder Singh Babbu, state President, Youth Congress, Punjab, at the poll office of the Congress here today.

Though Mr Isapur denied that the SHSAD had lent support to the Congress, he said: “Mr Amarinder Singh, President, PPCC, is a true Sikh who resigned as member of Parliament after Operation Bluestar and then as Minister, Agriculture, when Mr Surjit Singh Barnala sent the police inside the Golden Temple”.

“While Mr Parkash Singh Badal is a deserter, who has denigrated Sikh institutions in a big way”.

He said Mr Badal had committed a “sin” by unceremoniously removing Bhai Ranjit Singh as Jathedar, Akal Takht.

Though the SHSAD does not have much influence in the Majitha constituency and is unlikely to play a significant role in the win or defeat of any candidate, yet the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal will get an issue to criticise the former, especially when the campaigning is at its peak.

Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, when asked whether Mr Isapur had lent support to the Congress, said: “When somebody is sitting in our poll office, it is clear that he has lent his support”.

Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, President, SHSAD, when contacted at his ancestral village in Patiala district for comment on the issue, said: “Nobody can suspect the credentials of Mr Isapur. He may have gone to meet somebody in the Congress office”.

Mr Tohra said he would not visit Majitha till February 19, not even come to Amritsar, lest somebody charged him with helping the Congress.

Mr Tohra criticised Mr Parkash Singh Badal for his “anti-Panthic” activities.

The SHSAD, SAD the (Panthic) and the SAD (Democratic) had decided not to contest the Majitha byelection on the pretext that no byelection under the Badal government could be free and fair.

Though rival Akali factions had claimed they would forge Panthic unity after the byelection, yet the activities of the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (in favour of the Congress candidate) may harm the move in the long run.