Akali Dal likely to field Jagir Kaur from Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal will address a workers’ meeting in Tarn Taran on Tuesday where he is likely to announce the name of Bibi Jagir Kaur as the candidate from Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) will field former minister Bibi Jagir Kaur as its candidate from the Khadoor Sahib constituency for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. A formal announcement is likely to be made on Tuesday, say party insiders.
Former president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Jagir Kaur has also started campaigning in all nine assembly segments —Tarn Taran, Khadoor Sahib, Khemkaran, Patti, Baba Bakala, Jandiala, Kapurthala, Sultanpur Lodhi and Zira — in the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency.
An Akali citadel, Khadoor Sahib has voted in favour of SAD candidates since 1977, except in 1992 when the party boycotted the polls.
The SAD had to find a ‘suitable’ face for its bastion after party’s senior vice-president and incumbent MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, along with former minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan and former MP Rattan Singh Ajnala formed a new political outfit — Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) in December 2018.
The three Akali veterans were expelled from the Akali Dal for revolting against the leadership of Sukhbir Singh Badal for “securing” Akal Takht pardon for Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a blasphemy case and the 2015 sacrilege incidents and police firing.
“The party president has chosen me to contest from the Panthic seat and I have launched my campaign in all assembly segments,” said Jagir Kaur, adding that party president Sukhbir Badal will address a workers’ meeting in Tarn Taran on Tuesday where he is likely to announce her name.
The two-time SGPC chief joined the SAD in 1995 and was appointed member of the party’s working committee. In 1997, she was elected from the Bholath assembly constituency in Kapurthala district and was elevated as tourism and cultural affairs minister in the Parkash Singh Badal cabinet.
She courted controversy when her daughter Harpreet Kaur was found dead under mysterious circumstances in April 2000. Jagir Kaur was convicted by a trial court but was acquitted by the high court in December 2018.
Earlier, senior Shiromani Akali Dal leaders had approached Jagdish Kaur, the prime complainant in a case against former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar who has been convicted by the Delhi high court in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, but she refused to contest.
The name of Virsa Singh Valtoha, former chief parliamentary secretary, was also doing the rounds.