Jagir Kaur may find going tough to secure second term

But with the critics in the party becoming increasingly vocal in private about her removal from the post especially after being named in the FIR for her daughter’s death, Jagir Kaur’s getting a second term as SGPC President looks somewhat uncertain now.

Although Bibi Kaur’s opponents in the party are yet to speak out publicly against her renomination, they said the matter would be raised at the party platform. A decision would be taken by the Akali Dal Political Affairs Committee after Badal’s return from the United States.

An Akali Dal spokesman said a PAC meeting was expected to be held in the third week of November and it was likely to take a decision on the candidate for SGPC Presidentship.

Who will succeed Jagir Kaur as SGPC President? At least half a dozen names of Akali Dal leaders are doing the rounds. These include Jagdev Singh Talwandi, Suchha Singh Langaha, Gurdev Singh Romana, Tota Singh, Mal Singh Ghuman and Kiranjit Kaur, a grand-daugher of Master Tara Singh, a former SGPC Chief.

The Akali Dal enjoys a majority in the 185-member SGPC general body, which elects its Chief. About 35 members are loyalists of Tohra, a staunch Badal critic who has been expelled from the party, and five to six others owe allegiance to the Akali Dal faction led by Simranjit Singh Mann. Five high priests are also members of the general house.

The 20-month tenure of Jagir Kaur as SGPC Chief has remained mired in controversies. These include her tiff with Akali Dal jathedar Giani Puran Singh who had ex-communicated her from Sikh religious fold.