CHANDIGARH: Leaders of Akali Dal (Mann) are vying with each other to court the new Punjab Governor Verma even though they criticised his appointment by implication when they criticised the removal of his predecessor N.K Mukhagji.

Dal M gen secretary Gurtej Singh accompanied by working committee member Sukhinder Singh trooped to the Raj Bhavan to discuss the situation in the state on an invitation from the Governor. However, obviously with Mann’s consent the Dal M secretary Capt. PS Sidhu issued a statement disowning Gurtej Singh’s meeting with the governor. At the same time Capt. Sidhu regretted that the govt had not called his party to witness Verma’s swearing in on June 14, Sidhu said several office bearers wanted to meet the governor and had sought time but there was no response so far. Meanwhile the Dal (M) MPs Mrs. Rajinder Kaur and Bimal Khalsa accompanied by Mr, Ajit ‘Singh Bains met the governor for a short while. Among other things they brought to his notice a few recent fake encounter killings. The Dal (M) further said his party was a mass based organisation which could not be ignored. The attitude of the govt was its statement on Punjab, Sidhu said. Simranjit Singh’s press secretary Maninderjit Singh declared that the party was yet to decide its attitude towards the governor and that it had taken a serious view of the meeting Gurtej Singh and Sukhinder Singh had with Verma. Ina statement read over the phone from Dalhousie where Mann recovering from an ear infection, Maninderjit Singh said the party was of the view that during President’s rule the Sikhs had been denied the most basic right to worship at the Golden Temple and had been subjected to the most brutal human rights abuses by the corrupt state machinery. The party would watch the governor’s performance. He also said the views expressed by Gurtej Singh at his meeting with the governor were his personal opinions.

Earlier Virendra Verma was sworn in as the governor at a simple ceremony at the government house on June 14.

The oath was administered by acting chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court JV Gupta.

Article extracted from this publication >> June 22, 1990