AMRITSAR, Punjab, India: Gurcharan Singh Tohra, now under detention, has agreed to re-contest S.G.P.C. Presidentship scheduled to be held at Anandpur Sahib on October 16. His consent has been conveyed by his wife, Mrs. Joginder Kaur, to the acting S.G.P.C. President Harinder Singh, who met her recently. A formal announcement of his candidature will be made by the Unified Akali Dal President, Ujaggar Singh Sekhwan, at Ludhiana on Monday. He was authorized to do so at a meeting of the party in Chandigarh on September 24.

Meanwhile, the fifteen members Executive of the S.G.P.C. have discussed the Panthic crisis at its meeting at Ludhiana. It is reliably learnt that S.G.P.C. will frame its strategy to counter the Sarbat Khalsa Convention of the Five Member Panthic Committee called for October 22. According to S.G. P.C. sources, the Executive meeting will be a routine affair but the thorny issue of retransferring Giani Kashmir Singh, Head Priest of Akal Takht, back to Tarn Taran cannot be ruled out. The UAD has invited its senior leaders and the S.G.P.C. acting President and others also to its Monday meeting where Tohra’s name will be announced. The sources say that names of other office bearers, the senior Vice-president, junior Vice-president, the General Secretary and eleven member executive will however be announced at the meeting at Anandpur Sahib itself. There is no indication so far as to what stand the other Akali Dal headed by Surjit Singh Barnala will take on the S.G.P.C. poll. It is not even known whether that faction will contest or not. But it is fairly well known that certain percentage of S.G.P.C. members do owe allegiance to Barnala. According to sources the name of Harcharan Singh, a senior leader of the UAD and a member of S.G.P.C. Executive is mentioned for the post of senior Vice-president. He has defied the freedom fighters and challenged them to eliminate him. He created a flutter recently when he alleged that a conspiracy to liquidate him was hatched at the residence of Head Priest of Akal Takht, Kashmir Singh.

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 9, 1987