SGPC president poll: SAD Sudhar Lehar asks SGPC members to cast vote as per their choice

A senior leader of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Sudhar Lehar, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, urged all members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to cast their votes as per their voice of conscience in the election to the post of president of the SGPC, to be held on October 28 in Amritsar. He also said the SGPC members are free to cast their votes for any candidate.

The SAD Sudhar Lehar has fielded a former president of the SGPC, Bibi Jagir Kaur, as its candidate for the post of president. However, the name of its candidate for the post of SGPC president is yet to be announced by the SAD, led by Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Parminder Singh Dhindsa, who is a former Punjab Cabinet Minister, said the main aim of the SAD Sudhar Lehar is to strengthen the Sikh institutions. However, the SAD leadership had violated the edict of Sri Akal Takht Sahib by not expelling a senior leader of the SAD, Virsa Singh Valtoha, from the party for 10 years, he added.

Dhindsa said the election of the president of the SGPC was not between the nominees of the SAD Sudhar Lehar and the SAD; it was between the pro-Panth forces such as the SAD Sudhar Lehar and the forces that had harmed the Sikh Panth and institutions. He said the agenda of the SAD Sudhar Lehar was to save the SGPC and maintain supremacy of the Akal Takht.

Speaking about the slow paddy procurement in the state, Dhindsa said the Centre and state government had politicised the problem. He said the governments have been accusing each other; however, they are not performing their respective responsibilities to resolve the problem. He appealed to both governments to stop politicising the paddy procurement problems and work together to solve the problem of the farmers.