Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Maan held a closed door meeting with Badal’s rebel leader Kuldip Singh Wadala in his continuing efforts to set up f Panthic forces against the Badal Tobra team in the Coming election’ to the general house of Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), here Sept.8th. The leaders ‘discussed the list of candidates to be fielded in the elections to be held on October 13 after a gap of 13 years. Amritsar Dal’s “senior vice president Sucha Singh Chhotepur, who is also chairman of party’s parliamentary board, also participated in the parleys which continued for more than two hours, according to the Akal sources.

Maan, who left for Ludhiana, will return to the city and the list of the candidates to be filed jointly would be finalized. Both Maan and Wadala had been holding discussion with the Panthic Dal leadership over the last week to set up the front. Maan later presided over the meeting of the parliamentary and district jathedars. The discussion in the meeting inconclusive because certain loose ends were yet to be tied up before the factions desirous of forming the anti adal front reached at a consensus. Meanwhile, Maan, in issued after the meeting, called upon all Panthic o forge unity to give a befitting reply to what he called adal Tohra BJP alliance.

Meanwhile, in Ludhiana, the Shiromani Youth Akali Dal (panthak) leaders Jagdish Singh Malli and Saranjit Singh Bawa, state and district presidents of the Shiromani Akali Dal (panthak) have made an appealed to Sukhjinder Singh, Ravi kuldip Singh Wadala, Ajit Singh Bains, Amarjit h Chawla, all: senior Akali leaders, who are reportedly unhappy with the present leadership over.an alliance with the janata Party to come to the fold of the Panthik Akali leaders urged all the likeminded Sikhs to vote leadership, who have betrayed the masses and misused the gurdwara funds.

Article extracted from this publication >>  September 11, 1996