Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday said that expelled Akali leaders were playing into the hands of the Congress party by forming a front at the instance of the latter to weaken the SAD and the Sikh panth.
“The latest announcement of expelled leaders Ranjit Brahmpura, Sewa Sekhwan and Rattan Ajnala that they would reach out to Sukhpal Khaira was proof that the new outfit, being planned by the trio, was destined to be a Congress front,” said SAD senior vice-presidents and former ministers Nirmal Singh Kahlon and Gulzar Singh Ranike.
“Khaira himself is a Congress tout, and by joining hands with him, the expelled leaders have also proved to be Congress stooges who are ever ready to do what their new political masters order,” they said. SAD leaders said that the expelled Akalis were fond of extolling their panthic credentials. “How could any panthic leader ever shake hands with the likes of Sukhpal Khaira who had spent 19, out of his 22-year political life, in the Indira Congress and had supported the attack on Sri Darbar Sahib and never demanded action against Delhi butchers Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar who were responsible for the 1984 Sikh massacres,” they asked.
“It is surprising that the expelled ‘tigri’ is trying to befool the people by stating that they were fighting ‘parivarvad’ in the Akali Dal. If this is so, why were sons of all three expelled leaders sitting in the press conference? Isn’t it true that the sons of the expelled leaders are running the political affairs of their fathers and have been openly designated as their heirs?” they said.
Taking on Brahmpura, they said that Khadoor Sahib MP was not touched by incidents of sacrilege when he pressurised SAD president Sukhbir Badal to field his son Ravinder Brahmpura as Akali candidate for Khadoor Sahib by-poll after the seat was vacated by Ramandeep Sikki on the grave issue of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib.
“Similarly, Sekhwan did have any qualms to make his politically immature son chairman of the Kahnuwan Market Committee instead of giving this post to a Taksali worker. Why did both leaders ignore Taksali workers to benefit their sons?” they asked. Highlighting their not-so-impressive “political track record”, SAD leaders said that Sekhwan had lost four consecutive assembly elections in a row and despite that, Sekhwan was adjusted as chairman of Punjab Technical Education Board with a Cabinet rank. “Brahmpura himself, who had earlier even shifted to the SAD (Amritsar) in an earlier opportunistic move, had lost 2012 assembly polls pathetically when SAD won the second assembly election on the trot. Even then, he pressurised the party president and was able to secure 2014 Lok Sabha ticket after denying the nomination to fellow rebel Rattan Ajnala,” they said.