CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today announced it would file a criminal complaint against the leaders of the central agencies’ sponsored ‘Vakhra Chulha’ Dal who were trying to appropriate the name of the Shiromani Akali Dal which was a registered and recognized party as per the Election Commission notification of 1996.
The party also thanked Punjabis for uniting as one and giving enormous support to the SAD’s grass root level agitation to defeat Arvind Kejriwal’s conspiracy to acquire 65, 000 acres of fertile land at throwaway prices. It also thanked the workers of the SAD who had led this fight from the front and forced AAP to take back the land pooling policy. It announced that the party would offer thanksgiving at Sri Akal Takht Sahib on August 31 under the leadership of S Sukhbir Singh Badal even as it warned the AAP government that the party would not hesitate to take on cudgels against the AAP government to safeguard the rights of Punjabis.
Warning the Vakhra Chulha party not to trying to deceive Punjabis by making false claims, senior party leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said “at present 100 per of the delegates of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are with the party and not even one member of the separate group, which was misusing the name of the SAD, was a member of latter party.
Stating that all delegates of the SAD had been elected after a due election following the end of the term of the previous working committee, Dr Daljit Cheema said the members of the Vakhra Chulha had not participated in the membership drive. He went on to say that all members of the SAD had taken membership of the party after submitting a membership fee of Rs 10 which was applicable for five years. “The separate group did not conduct a membership drive as per the constitution of the party which stipulates that every member has to pay a fee of Rs 10. Therefore they have no right to call their party meeting a delegate session of the SAD and can be proceeded against for indulging in cheating and forgery” He also termed the move as illegal, unconstitutional and immoral and said the SAD was consulting legal experts in order to file a formal criminal complaint in this regard.
Dr Daljit Cheema also took on the separate group’s President – Giani Harpreet Singh for violating the hukamnama of the Sri Akal Takht Sahib issued on December 2, 2024 stating the separate group should close its shop and merge with the SAD in Panthic interest. He said instead of doing this, Giani Harpreet had gone ahead to open a new shop. “It is extremely unfortunate and unbecoming that a person who has served as the Jathedar of the apex Sikh institution did not follow the directives written by himself”.
The SAD leader also urged the media to act responsibly and accord due respect to democratic institutions. Asserting that it was blatantly wrong to refer to Giani Harpreet as the President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Dr Cheema said this had sent confusing signals in the public. He said the SAD would send letters to all media houses to clarify the factual position as well as ensure Giani Harpreet and his group was not allowed to misuse the name of the SAD. “We will also seek to ensure that the media houses advise their advertorial staff that the SAD with its President – S Sukhbir Singh Badal is the sole Shiromani Akali Dal so that factually incorrect news items are not published in their news columns”.