Akali Dal expels Jagir Kaur over decision to contest Nov 9 SGPC poll

The Shiromani Akali Dal on Monday expelled Bibi Jagir Kaur from its primary membership for alleged anti-party activities after she stuck to her stand of contesting the November 9 Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee presidential poll.

The action came after Jagir Kaur failed to appear before the party's disciplinary committee, which had asked to explain her decision of contesting the election.

Kaur, who has held the post of the SGPC chief thrice previously, was adamant on contesting the poll.

Once considered a Badal family loyalist, Kaur on Sunday rolled out her agenda for the SGPC presidential polls, promising to restore the autonomy of the apex gurdwara body.

She had been pressing to be the party's nominee for the SGPC poll.

Kaur, a former MLA from the Bholath seat, had been the SGPC chief in 1999, 2004 and 2020.

Addressing the media in Chandigarh on Monday, SAD's disciplinary committee chairman Sikandar Singh Maluka said the disciplinary action against Kaur was taken after exhausting all other options, including giving the leader an opportunity to present her point of view through a personal hearing.

"The SAD has always sought to present 'panthic' unity by putting forward a single candidate for the post of president of the SGPC after the party president takes the views of all members individually. We fail to understand why Bibi Jagir Kaur wanted to change this and create confusion in the Sikh community as it only helps forces inimical to the 'panth'," he said.

Maluka said the party had given her chances to explain her position but she failed to respond.

"We are left with no option except to take action against her. The disciplinary committee today decided to expel her from the party. Her primary membership to the party has been cancelled. Her services in the party have ended now. The party has nothing to do with Bibi Jagir Kaur," he said.

Maluka said Kaur started preparing to contest the SGPC elections three months ago by approaching SGPC members.

He said senior SAD leaders Daljit Singh Cheema and Surjit Singh Rakhra had urged her to abide by party discipline. "Even SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal apprised her about the view point of SGPC members and counselled her not to insist on contesting the polls," said Maluka.

But Kaur remained insistent, Maluka said, adding she started calling up and meeting with members to solicit their support.

"Things got out of hand when there were complaints from SGPC members that senior BJP leader and Minority Commission Chairman Iqbal Singh Lalpura was ringing up members to solicit support for Bibi Jagir Kaur," Maluka claimed.

Last week, Kaur was suspended from the party after she dug her heels in for contesting the election, against the party's wishes.

The SAD had earlier issued a two-day ultimatum to Kaur to stop "anti-party" activities, failing which, it said, strict disciplinary action would be taken against her.

"Following this, two repeated extensions were given to her to explain her view point and today she was given time to explain her case in person," Maluka said.

However, instead of doing this, she is questioning the formation of the disciplinary committee, he added.

Disciplinary committee member Virsa Singh Valtoha released a purported audio clip, claiming that an Amritsar-based BJP leader was telling a SGPC member that he would arrange the latter's meeting with Lalpura.

The SAD has already announced incumbent Harjinder Singh Dhami as its candidate for the post of president of the apex gurdwara body.

The party's decision to announce its candidate was also a marked departure from the practice of declaring its nominee on the day of the poll.

The SAD earlier had slammed Lalpura for allegedly seeking support for the candidature of Jagir Kaur for the forthcoming polls while accusing him of trying to break the SGPC.