SAD breakaway faction starts process to form district units

Faction leader Gurpartap Singh Wadala said that the president will also choose his team, which includes senior vice presidents, vice presidents, general secretaries, and different committees such as working and core committees.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) breakaway faction has initiated the process to elect district and circle presidents with the appointment of observers in all districts.

Giani Harpreet Singh was elected president of SAD breakaway faction on August 11.

The five-member Akal Takht-appointed committee, after completing the membership drive to recast SAD as per the December 2, 2024, edict, had on August 11, elected Giani Harpreet Singh as its president. Now, the newly constituted party has started the process to appoint district-level committees and office bearers.

“The party will now build its structure from the ground up across the state to subsequently engage in a full-fledged political activity,” said Gurpartap Singh Wadala, who is a part of the breakaway faction. Wadala, who was a member of the five-member committee that conducted the membership drive and convener of the Akali Dal Sudhar Lehar, formed last year, has not been given any post in the breakaway faction so far.

Gurpartap Singh Wadala said that the president will also choose his team, which includes senior vice presidents, vice presidents, general secretaries, and different committees such as working and core committees.

“We will appoint the office bearers as per the constitution of the Shiromani Akali Dal. Our party (breakaway) faction will follow the age-old tenets on which the Akali Dal has been working for 105 years since it came into existence in 1920,” Wadala said, adding that he is open to serving the party in any role as mandated by the new members and the senior leaders of the party.

The new faction plans to run parallel offices in Chandigarh and Amritsar.

According to Dakha MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali, who was also a member of the committee that supervised the membership drive, said that by September the party will be fully ready for all political activities.

According to him, the upcoming 350th martyrdom day of Ninth Master Guru Teg Bahadur will be observed by the party with the launch of religious and political events.

11-member Panthic Council

Ayali informed that a process has also started to have eleven members in the panthic council led by Bibi Satwant Kaur. “Later, we may have an advisory body, depending on the requirement,” added Ayali. Shortly after the expansion of the council, it would begin dharam parchar and give a long term programme.