Akalis trade abuses in gurdwara

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, May 26

Former CPS Des Raj Dhugga was allegedly assaulted by Akali workers, while former Gurdaspur MLA Gurbachan Singh Babbehali faced their ire during a meeting in the historic Burj Sahib gurdwara here today.

The meeting was organised to ascertain reasons for the SAD’s loss in the Assembly elections. The party lost six out of seven Assembly seats in the district.

The meeting’s objective was relegated to the background the moment Dhugga entered the complex.

As he made his way to the stage, protesters led by former Zila Parishad chairman TS Bath led the charge against him, following which he was “manhandled”.

“Dhugga should not have been invited as he was responsible for the party’s loss in Sri Hargobindpur,” Bath claimed.

For several minutes, workers from the Dhugga and Bath groups continued to hurl abuses. This drew flak from pilgrims.

After the Dhugga episode, dissenting voices surfaced against Babbehali. He started his speech by saying, “The Gurdaspur MLA is responsible for getting a false case registered against my son.”

A party worker, GS Tibber, retorted, “You (Babbehali) should not forget that you used to target your party workers when you were an MLA. Now that your son has been booked, you should not whine,” This led to another tense situation. Had it not been for former ministers SS Sekhwan and Sucha Singh Langah, the situation could have gone from bad to worse.