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Tuesday,
November 12, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Badal parades 98 members near airport
New Delhi, November 11 In the presence of National Minority Commission members, Union Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and former union minister and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhbir Singh Badal expressed apprehension that their supporters would not be allowed to reach the polling rooms tomorrow when the elections to the SGPC executive committee are to be held at Amritsar. A Jet Airways flight was chartered for the supporters who had gathered in Delhi before moving in a group to Amritsar. Mr Dhindsa and Mr Badal also demanded the resignation of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for committing a ‘sacrilege’ by allowing the police to enter the Golden Temple complex yesterday on the pretext of getting the three serais (inns) cleared so that free and fair elections could be carried out on Tuesday. The Badal group supporters had been moved from Barwana in Haryana to Delhi early in the morning. Alleging that the religious feelings of the Sikh community had been hurt by the Punjab Chief Minister in the name of law and order, the SAD members said Capt Amarinder Singh was trying to hijack the SGPC elections. They alleged that by ensuring that the Badal group supporters don’t reach for polling, the Punjab Chief Minister was wanting to foist a puppet on the SGPC whom he could control. Comparing the present situation in Amritsar to Operation Bluestar, Mr Dhindsa and Mr Badal said the Punjab Chief Minister was out to ensure that there were no free and fair SGPC elections. Meanwhile, the National Minority Commission three-member team present at the venue where the Badal group was parading its supporters felt satisfied that there had been no coercion of the members by the Badal group. Vice-Chairman of the commission Tarlochan Singh said they had assembled here to see whether there was any coercion. “We are satisfied that all members present were there without anyone being forced,” he said. Mr Tarlochan Singh also said the Punjab Government in the name of security had allowed the police to enter the Golden Temple complex which was not allowed. He said the feelings of the Sikh community had been hurt by this action of the Congress government. Later, the commission held a meeting. It took a serious view of the complaint sent by the Manager of the Darbar Sahib over the entry of the police into the sanctum sanctorum. The commission wrote to the Chief Secretary Punjab, Mr Y.S. Ratra, seeking an immediate reply to the complaint. Meanwhile, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers told reporters that every member of the Sikh community should be allowed to enter Amritsar so that elections to the executive body of the SGPC tomorrow could be free and fair. Mr Dhindsa alleged that 2000 SAD workers had been arrested in the run up to the poll. He said false cases had been registered and arrest warrants issued against Akali Dal members including Bibi Jagir Kaur. He said an NDA team would visit Amritsar to take stock of the situation and give its report to the government. The team comprises Union Minister Sahib Singh Verma, MPs P.C. Thomas, Beatrix D’Souza, Anita Arya and Sukhbir Singh Badal and Mr Dhindsa.  |
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NDA team to give report to PM On-Board-Jet Airways, November 11 Talking to mediapersons on board the chartered Jet Airways which took off from New Delhi, today, Mr Verma said the team members would stay in Amritsar as long as it was required. He alleged that the Congress government had created an unsavoury situation by stopping the SGPC members from casting their votes during the annual election. Capt Amarinder Singh wanted to appoint his puppet as SGPC chief tomorrow, he alleged. The other members of the NDA team which has come as observers of NDA include Mr P.C. Thomas, Dr Anita Arya, both Members of Parliament and Ms Dasuja from the Samata
Party. |
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Badal’s nephew ferried SGPC
members Balasar (Sirsa), November 11 “I can’t trust any ordinary driver to take important persons in the bus. Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal”, MP, says “we used to drive our own buses before marriage. This could be a “routine matter” for the Badal cousins but the gesture gave a feeling of being “VVIPs” to SGPC members. The scene of quiet farewell given by the Chautala men to 100 odd SGPC members who stayed in the palatial farm houses, one at Balasar which belongs to Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Ekant Farm House, 40 km from here, was memorable as their eyes were welled with tears at the time of parting company,
“the warm hospitality extended by you is unforgettable” said Mr Jaswinder Singh Advocate, an SGPC member from Amritsar. Another member said their three week stay in Haryana helped in reducing their weight as morning and evening walks had become their daily routine. One thing which they were missing was their families. Mr Ajay Chautala and Abhay
Chautala, both sons of Mr Chautala, would visit the farm houses regularly. The pilot and the escort provided by the Haryana police, the buses and luxury vehicles reached Five Star Centaur hotel near Indira Gandhi International Airport where members were paraded before the media. Two members of the minority commission headed by its Vice-Chairman Mr Tarlochan Singh resorted to head-counting of members on the request of the Akali Dal. The Minority Commission had sought the intervention of the commission to ensure that no member is “kidnapped” by the state government on their landing at Amritsar. Many members who had a lifetime experience of travelling by air for the first time said that it was a delight to reach within 45 minutes from Delhi to Amritsar. Guessing that many of the members supporting blue turbans did not know English one of the airhostesses started interacting with them in chaste Punjabi. On landing at Rajasansi Airport, some of the crew members of the plane prayed for the success of the commuters by raising slogans like ‘Bole so Nihal’. |
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