LUDHIANA: The expected split in the Shiromani Akali Dal (Mann) has been averted at cast for the time being The rebel working committee members and district Jathedars of the party who met here on Friday formed a five member committee to go into the controversy of irregularities committed by the party president Mr Simranjit Singh Mann in a distribution of tickets for the coming Lok Sabhaand Assembly election nominees.

Captain Harcharan Singh Rode who briefed newsmen after the meeting said that the committee shall comprise of Mr Shiv Charan Singh Sammewali Mr Ajit Singh Bhangu Mr Tejwant Singh Grewal Mr Rashbegh Singh and Mr Dal Singh Sandhu and make its findings public through the press on May 10.

He said during the course of inquiry the committee shall meet Baba Thakur Singh head of the Damdami Taksal Baba Joginder Singh former acting president of the party Bhai Jasbir Singh Rode deposed jathedar of Akal Takht Bhai Gurdev Singh Kaonke former acting jathedar of Akal Takht and other prominent Sikh personalities’ and consult them about its findings and its report would be binding on the party.

The meeting which was presided over by former general secretary of the party Captain Harcharan Singh Rode was not well-attended. Only 18 working committee members and seven district presidents and one former member of Lok Sabha Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bulara participated. This thin attendance might have been one reason why the meeting did not take the drastic step of changing the party leadership.

When Captain Rode was asked about this he said they believed in the principle of democracy and would not oust anybody without first conducting an inquiry and then serving a show-cause notice. He said the committee has been empowered to take any decision even on the question of leadership.

Participants at Friday’s meeting expressed great resentment over Mr Mann’s distribution of party tickets for election probable. They cited several instances where non-party candidates have got tickets of the SAD (Mann) and in some cases party nominees have been changed after Captain Rode and some others resigned from party posts. The remaining members also offered to resign from their offices but were persuaded to wait till the committee’s report. Captain Rode said they all shall continue to be in the Shiromani Akali Dal.

Meanwhile Captain Rode termed the elections being held in Punjab as a “drama” and expressed doubts whether they would really be held. He said for the first time in the history a period of nearly two months have been given to the candidates to canvass for votes because the government wanted the Sikh candidates to indulge in fighting and get killed.

Then these killings would be used as a ploy to further postpone the elections. He said if the poll was postponed now it would push the Sikhs further towards Khalistan.

Article extracted from this publication >> May 10, 1991