AMRITSAR: In an apparent attempt to prevent the traditional Akali leadership led by Prakash Sigh Badal and a Gurbachan Singh Tohra from capturing power in the forthcoming SGPC elections, the Akali Dal (Manjit) headed by Bhai Manjit Singh, merged into the Akali Dal (Amritsar) led by Shimranjit Singh Mann. The dissolution of the Manjit faction and its merger into the Mann Dal was announced at a press conference jointly addressed by Mann and Bhai Manjit Singh here this week.
This was for the second ime in the last one and a half year that the Manjit faction has been dissolved. Last year this group was dissolved when it merged with the Akali Dal (Badal) but later the party was again revived just prior to the last Lok Sabha elections following differences in the selection of candidates for the elections. Mann said the decision to merge was the need of the hour as leaders of both the factions felt that the independent identity of the Sikhs was being sacrificed by the Badal Tohra nexus that had joined hands with communal forces like the Bharatiya Janata Party.
It was also felt that the SGPC which had been under the control of Tohra for the last two decades, was infested with corrupt people and the Amritsar Dal was duty bound to free this August institution from the clutches of dishonest political leaders, he added.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 21, 1996
