I respect Bibi Jagir Kaur a lot, says SAD chief Sukhbir Badal day after party suspends her

PTI

Chandigarh, November 3

A day after the Shiromani Akali Dal suspended former SGPC chief and its leader Bibi Jagir Kaur for “anti-party activities”, party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday said he respects her a lot and had never said no to her for anything.

Badal also accused National Commission for Minorities Chairman Iqbal Singh Lalpura of trying to break the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) by seeking support for Kaur’s candidature for the November 9 poll to the apex gurdwara body’s president’s post.

Kaur was on Wednesday suspended by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) after she refused to back down from contesting the poll. The SAD had also issued a two-day ultimatum to Kaur to stop “anti-party activities”, failing which, it said, strict disciplinary action would be taken against her.

The SAD acted after Kaur dug her heels for contesting the SGPC presidential poll independently.

Kaur had been pressing to be the party’s nominee for the poll and had earlier met Badal about it. The SAD is yet to name its candidate.

Speaking to reporters in Amritsar, Badal, while replying to a question, said, “I respect Bibi (Jagir Kaur) ji a lot and my father (Parkash Singh Badal) also respects her. I can say that I never said no to Bibi ji for anything. Even now I respect her.”

Asked whether the BJP was backing Kaur, he alleged that Lalpura has been openly calling up SGPC members and asking them to support Kaur’s candidature.

“He (Lalpura) is holding a constitutional post,” Badal said, adding that he should not try to break the Sikh institution with his conduct.

“The SGPC is an institution of the (Sikh) community” and it does not behove Lalpura holding a constitutional post to try to break the SGPC, the SAD chief said. Badal has been meeting SGPC members to ensure support for the party’s nominee for the president post, whenever a name is announced.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, the SAD chief said 15 members of the SGPC, who had gone away from the SAD for some reason, have returned to the party fold.

Kaur, a former MLA, was the SGPC’s president in 1999, 2004 and 2020. Harjinder Singh Dhami is the current chief of the apex gurdwara body.

The SAD on Wednesday had requested the President Droupadi Murmu to dismiss Lalpura from his post, alleging he was interfering in the religious affairs of the Sikh community by trying to break the SGPC.