The change in the basic organisational structure of the Youth Akali Dal (YAD) by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is being seen as an "experiment" that could be used to bring about a change in the party structure as well. Punjab has been divided into four parts and four YAD presidents will be named. One president will be taken from Majha, one from Doaba and two from Malwa, which has been divided into two parts of seven districts each. A state coordinator will also be appointed. Senior leaders in the party concede that the aim is to see how this works in the next few months and then a similar exercise can be undertaken to have four zonal heads of SAD who would report to the SAD president. SAD has retained its seniormost leaders at the top as senior vice-presidents and there are not many surprises there. Balwinder Singh Bhunder has been promoted from general secretary to senior vice-president. Dr Upinderjit Kaur is a new inclusion in this list. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa continues to be secretary general and Dr Daljit Singh Cheema secretary. The inclusion of Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia as one among the 11 general secretaries is being seen as a strategic move to allow him to "lie low" while his "image managers" work on improving his public perception, which has taken a severe beating in the past two years. Majithia is now in the same position as Maheshinder Singh Grewal, Prof. Prem Singh Chandumajra, Nirmal Singh Kahlon, Naresh Gujral, Sewa Singh Sekhwan, Avtar Singh Brar, Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Dr. Ratan Singh Ajnala, Sarwan Singh Phillaur and Hira Singh Gabria. Many from the earlier list of general secretaries have been made vice-presidents. These include Avtar Singh Hit, Amreek Singh Aliwal, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon and Bhai Ram Singh. The inclusion of Avtar Singh Brar, a turncoat Congressman who joined SAD in October last year, is being seen as a bid to assuage him. Sources added that he was promised a Lok Sabha ticket from SAD but then MP Paramjit Kaur Gulshan managed to get the ticket. Gulshan, who was heading the women’s wing, has been replaced by Jagir Kaur. Gulshan is now a vice-president. Harish Dhanda has been dropped both as vice president and spokesperson. Kiranbir Singh Kang, a former YAD president, too has been dropped as vice president. The list of organising secretaries has been cut to half and the number of joint secretaries too has been reduced. The choice of district presidents points towards the party wanting to spread its base in urban areas. Non-Sikh party leaders have been made heads of the party in several areas. These include Ashok Aneja in Fazlika urban, Navneet Khurana in Ferozepur urban and Shubash Ohri in Gurdaspur urban.
