DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Jagir Kaur rejoined the Shiromani Akali Dal on Thursday, more than a year after she was expelled for alleged "anti-party" activities.The development came days after Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa merged his Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) with the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Sukhbir Singh Badal and other senior leaders including Daljit Singh Cheema, Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon and Surjit Singh Rakhra visited Begowal in Kapurthala district to reinduct Kaur into the party.

After Badal welcomed her into the party fold, she said that she was an Akali by birth. "I was an Akali and will remain an Akali. Always." She also asserted that she would continue to work in the religious sphere and do her best to strengthen the SGPC. Badal said, "My relations with Bibi ji have always been that of a family member". He said he had earlier also invited her to rejoin the party with folded hands and he was thankful to her for acceding to his request. The SAD chief also urged all Akalis who became estranged to return. "Only when we are united, can we thwart the attempts being made to weaken the SGPC and Sikh institutions," he said.

Kaur, a former minister, was the president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in 1999, 2004 and 2020.

She was expelled from the SAD in November 2022 when she stuck to her stand of contesting the SGPC presidential poll, which she eventually lost to SAD nominee Harjinder Singh Dhami.

Kaur, who was once considered a loyalist to the Badal family, had then assured of restoring autonomy of the SGPC, the apex gurdwara body.

Kaur had always maintained that she had not left the SAD but it was the party which expelled her.

Later, while replying to a question, Badal said the very fact that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was now contesting elections in the name of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann indicated that AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal knew that the party was in a "downward spiral".

"It seems Kejriwal knows that this time Punjabis will not give him a chance and that is why he is putting the onus for ensuring his party's forthcoming parliamentary victory on Bhagwant Mann," he said.

He claimed the AAP would not win even one of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab.

To a question on the Citizenship Amendment Act, Badal said the SAD had been maintaining all along that nearly two lakh Sikhs who had fled Afghanistan and Pakistan should be given citizenship. "This is finally happening and we welcome it," said Badal.
(editor@dailyworld.in)