Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Navjot Singh Sidhu, who seeks re-entry into the Lok Sabha in Tuesday's vote from Amritsar in Punjab, came under Sikh fire on Monday for performing a fire ritual, an act forbidden in the faith.
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, controlled by leaders opposed to Shiromani Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal, has written to the Akal Takht, the highest temporal authority of the faith, accusing the former cricketer of religious wrongdoing by allegedly holding a "havan" in his house.
DSGMC chief Paramjit Singh Sarna, who defeated SAD for a second time in committee elections last month, also demanded in a statement that the SGPC, the top Sikh religious administration controlled by Badal's SAD, take action against Sidhu.
He cited the SGPC's previous complaints to several teleserial producers over depiction of Sikh characters in fire rituals and object worship.
Sarna, who accuses the SAD-BJP combine of promoting Sangh ideology in the Sikh-majority state, recalled that supporters of Badal had opposed a DSGMC-organised trans-border procession to Nankana Sahib in 2005 on the grounds that it had a gilded palanquin as one of its main features.
"Those who were opposed to the palki procession should now take a stand on Navjot Singh Sidhu," the statement said.