AMRITSAR: Did a particular leader of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) exert its
influence
to sway a significant number of members of Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD) to vote in favor of a particular group in the CKD’s office bearers elections concluded on Sunday?
Highly placed sources here informed on Monday that a prominent SAD leader, known for his influential stature, took a proactive role in personally reaching out to CKD members and had also assigned the duty to his subordinate leaders in the persuasion efforts, yet the outcome did not align with his expectations.
The elections for the office bearers of CKD took place on Sunday, resulting in Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar, the presidential candidate, securing 247 votes as compared to his rival candidate Surinderjit Singh Paul, who received 150 votes. Notably, Nijjar, an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA and former minister in the Bhagwant Mann government led his group to victory in the majority of the remaining office bearer elections as well except one.
A CKD member, who preferred to remain anonymous, alleged that the SAD, which holds a majority of its members in the general house of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, also aimed to secure a majority in the CKD, a prominent socio-religious body among Sikhs, with members from Punjab and beyond.
"It is now an open secret that a political
rivalry
has intensified between SAD and AAP within the CKD. With Nijjar's victory, AAP's leadership is closely monitoring the
CKD elections
and may consider re-inducting Nijjar into the cabinet, especially after his reelection as president of CKD" he stated.
The CKD members are not only aligned with AAP and SAD but also with the Congress party but this is probably for the first time the leader of a particular political party has desperately tried to sway the CKD polls.
Another CKD member from outside Punjab said "The supposed charisma of the SAD leader has crumbled in the eyes of CKD members who were approached by him to vote for specific candidates. He now stands humiliated before all of us, albeit behind closed doors," he said.
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