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Sangrur bypoll: SAD for common candidate of Panthic parties
SAD on Friday welcomed message given by Akal Takht jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh to all Panthic factions to unite and field a common candidate from the families of ‘Bandi Singhs’ for Sangrur bypoll
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday welcomed the message given by Akal Takht jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh to all Panthic factions to unite and field a common candidate from the families of ‘Bandi Singhs’ for the Sangrur Lok Sabha parliamentary bypoll.
The SAD core committee, which met here under the leadership of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal, while welcoming the statement of the Akal Takht jathedar, said the party was still striving for the Panthic unity.
Later at night, Sukhbir reached Sangrur to meet SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann.Senior party leaders Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Prem Singh Chandumajra were also with him besides Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Harjinder Singh Dhami.
During the meeting, the SAD president proposed to contest the Sangrur byelection with a joint candidate of all Panthic organisations. Mann sought a couple of days to think about it. “If they (SAD) field a candidate who can raise issues pertaining to the release of long-term Sikh detainees in various jails and attacks on minorities, then we will think about it,” said Mann after the meeting.
Earlier, the SAD committee also took note of “lawlessness” in the state. It alleged that the AAP government had failed to maintain law and order to such an extent that no one was safe. “The civil society is living in fear of gangsters even as extortions, murders, dacoities and targeted killings are occurring on a daily basis,” it said.
Briefing the committee, the SAD president said a delegation of the party had also met the Punjab governor to demand a National Investigating Agency (NIA) probe into the entire issue of withdrawal of security of prominent persons, including Sidhu Moose Wala as well as the subsequent publicity of this act. The core committee was of the unanimous view that Mann should resign on moral grounds after “failing to secure the life and safety of Punjabis”.
