AMRITSAR: The Akali Dal (Amritsar has demanded the resignation of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh on moral grounds following the exposure that his government was indulging in Corrupt practices.

 Talking to media persons here, fast week: Jagdev Singh, Talwandi and Manjit Singh Calcutta said Beant Singh had been exposed by his own JAS officer in the Punjab and Hyryana High Court and no further proof was required.

 They warned that if Beant Singh did not resign, their party would launch a campaign to oust him from power.

The Akali leaders threatened to drag the Akali Dal (Badal) to count if it did not stop from miss guarding people by posing as the Shiromuari Akali Dal in its recruitment drive, Parkash Singh Baal’s party was registered with the Election Commission as Akali Dal (Badal) and hence it was

Obligation for the party to use the suffix in its various activities, they said.

 They claimed that theirs was the real Shiromani Akali Dal since it had been formed under the patronage of the Akal  Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs.

“The Dal (A) maintained that the opening of membership of Dal (Badal) to Hirdus was noting New as the original Constitution of the Akali Dal clearly stated that any person who had faith in its preamble and policies could become a member However, they clarified that only personal who had faith in and followed the Sikh tenets Were eligible to become its office-bearers.

Meanwhile in Batala, Akali Dal (Amritsar) leader and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Gurcharan Singh Tohra has said that his party would get the Amritsar Declaration endorsed in the state Assembly when elected to power.

Addressing the party’s first conference in Gurdaspur, last week, he said he would continue to attend “bhog” ceremonies of the “boys” Killed in encounters with security forces and that melas” would be held in Punjab in their memory. Talking to media persons, party ad hoe committee leaders Simranjit Singh Mann and Sukhjinder Singh said they stood for Khalistan” but added, the time was not yet ripe for launching & struggle to achieve this objective. “

Alleging that the Beant Singh government was the most corrupt ever (o rule in Punjab. Mann and Sukhjinder Singh further charged it with ruling through the weapon of terror. They demanded dismissal of the government in view of the several decisions of the High Court again it including the conviction of the Chief Secretary.

They charged their rival Akali party president Parkash Singh Badal with aligning with political parties which, they alleged were Akal Takht, They alleged that Badal had turned against the Takht, had become anti-Panthic and was trying to undermine the Panth wit of the government. The conference was addressed among others by Manjit Singh, Jasbir Singh Ghuman, Such a Singh Chhotepur and Nimal Singh Kahlon.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 26, 1994