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SAD ‘unwilling’ to conduct membership drive under Takht panel: Members to jathedar
The meeting came days after the committee’s convener Harjinder Singh Dhami and member Kirpal Singh Badungar resigned from their roles.
Five members of the committee appointed by the Akal Takht on December 2 to oversee the reorganisation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) met Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh on Sunday and raised concerns over the party’s “unwillingness” to conduct a membership drive under the panel.
The meeting came days after the committee’s convener Harjinder Singh Dhami and member Kirpal Singh Badungar resigned from their roles.
In the absence of Dhami and Badungar, the remaining committee members — Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Satwant Kaur, Iqbal Singh Jhundan, Manpreet Singh Ayali and Santa Singh Umaidpuri — met the Jathedar at his residence in the Golden Temple complex.
They provided him with a detailed account of the committee’s proceedings so far.
According to the December 2 directive, the committee was tasked with overseeing SAD’s membership drive.
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However, the faction led by Sukhbir Singh Badal conducted the drive independently under the party’s working committee and later announced its completion — disregarding the Akal Takht directive to work under the seven-member panel.
During a press conference, the remaining committee members expressed concerns over the SAD leadership’s unwillingness to conduct the drive under Akal Takht’s supervision. Given these challenges and the recent resignations, they sought further guidance from the jathedar.
“Jathedar Sahib has instructed us to ensure full implementation of the December 2 hukamnama (edict), and we are committed to following the Takht’s directive. We have submitted a written and verbal report on our proceedings. Now, we await the jathedar’s next directive,” said Ayali while addressing the media after the meeting.
He further stated: “We have already made it clear that the SAD leadership is unwilling to carry out the membership drive under Akal Takht’s supervision and is not cooperating with the panel. Only the Jathedar can decide who will lead the panel after Harjinder Singh Dhami’s resignation.”
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Dhami, who also resigned as president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), did not attend the meeting despite jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh’s appeal on Saturday urging him to fulfil his duty.
The jathedar had, in effect, rejected Dhami’s resignation, emphasising that he should continue leading the seven-member committee and resume its assigned task.
The jathedar did not release any official statement following the meeting on Sunday.
