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Badal rules out action against Tohra

Punjab Chief Minister and Akali Dal-Badal president Parkash Singh Badal today ruled out any disciplinary action against Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra for making statements detrimental to the party.

Talking to the media in the border village of Padr Kalan in Amritsar district, Badal said he had great respect for Tohra. ''He is a great leader,'' the chief minister said.

Ruling out a split in the party following his differences with Tohra, Badal said the party remained very much united.

''There is always a way out of every crisis,'' he quipped when asked about the likely impact of the Badal-Tohra feud on party functioning.

Regarding demands voiced by his supporters in the SGPC for Tohra's resignation from the post of president of the body that controls a majority of Sikh historic shrines, the chief minister said he himself had made no such demand.

''I have never interfered in SGPC affairs and this demand is being made by the SGPC members,'' he quipped but refused to elaborate.

The chief minister described his late night meeting with Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh at Amritsar yesterday as a "courtesy call". He denied discussing the current Akali political situation with the jathedar.

He replied in the negative when asked whether he had received any message from Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to end the crisis plaguing the ruling Akali party ever since Tohra questioned Badal's leadership.

Badal said his party's stand remained unchanged on the exclusion of Udham Singh Nagar from the proposed hill state of Uttaranchal.

He said the three-member committee formed by the prime minister for finding a solution to this problem had held one meeting while two more were to be held before the preparation of the final draft on the future of Udham Singh Nagar.

Badal is also a member of this committee along with Defence Minister George Fernandes and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh.

UNI

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