Badal refuses to comment on edict issued by Sikh clergy

JALANDHAR/CHANDIGARH, JAN 1: Punjab Chief Minister and Akali Dal President Parkash Singh Badal today refused to comment on the edict issu...

JALANDHAR/CHANDIGARH, JAN 1: Punjab Chief Minister and Akali Dal President Parkash Singh Badal today refused to comment on the edict issued by the Sikh clergy, directing cessation of tussle between him and Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee (SGPC) President G S Tohra, till April 15 next year.

Asked by reporters here whether Tohra had replied to the show-cause notice sent to him by the party’s Disciplinary Action Committee for his reported criticism of his (Badal’s) functioning, Badal said the question should be posed to DAC Chairman Jagdev Singh Talwandi.

The Sikh clergy, headed by Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh, intervened yesterday in the row between Tohra and Badal, issuing an edict for stopping all controversies till April 15 next year.

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Issuing the hukumnama (edict) after a meeting in Amritsar, the Sikh clergy directed the Akali Dal high command to maintain status quo with the leaders, maintaining the same posts as at present, so that tercentenary celebrations of the Khalsa next yearare not affected.

Referring to the tercentenary celebrations, Badal said detailed plans would be discussed at a meeting of the Akali leaders, SGPC members and district party presidents at Anandpur Sahib on January 7. Prime Minister A B Vajpayee has released Rs 50 crore out of the Rs 100 crore earmarked for the celebrations, he added.

Meanwhile, an official spokesman said in Chandigarh today that the Governments of Gujarat, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh have set up State-level committees under the Chairmanship of the respective Chief Ministers, for the commemoration of the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of Khalsa. The Governments of Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are also in the process of constituting such committees in their respective states.