SAD breakaway faction chief prioritises serving Punjab 'Panth' slams Sukhbir Badal

Chandigarh, Aug 11 (PTI) Giani Harpreet Singh, the newly elected chief of the Shiromani Akali Dal breakaway faction, Monday said his priority is to serve Punjab and the 'panth' (community), and described Sukhbir Singh Badal's outfit as "bhagora dal".
    The former Akal Takht acting Jathedar also said that he would not contest any election.
    Harpreet Singh was unanimously elected as the president of the breakaway faction of the Shiromani Akali Dal in a meeting of the delegate session held in Amritsar on Monday.
    The Akal Takht-appointed committee held the delegate session of the breakaway group of the SAD at Gurdwara Burj Akali Phoola Singh in Amritsar. At the meeting, Satwant Kaur was elected as the chairperson of the 'Panthic' council of the faction.
    Addressing the gathering after being elected as the president, Giani Harpreet Singh said he would make all efforts to live up to the faith shown in him. "Our objective is to serve Punjab and 'panth'."
    "I will never fight any election," he asserted.
    Singh termed the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led SAD as "bhagora dal" for defying the Akal Takht's December 2 edict.
    "Had they not thrown me away from the post of the jathedar and humiliated me, I would not have taken this responsibility, as I was happy to have been serving as the jathedar," he said.
    In February, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had dismissed the services of Giani Harpreet Singh as the jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib.
    Singh claimed that he was threatened with character assassination by the Badal-led outfit.
    "If you do character assassination of my party worker or any leader, I will expose you outside your residences," he warned the Badal camp.
    Later, while speaking with reporters, Singh targeted the Centre for not holding the SGPC elections. It seems that the Centre was in "hand-in-glove" with the Badal-led outfit, he claimed.
    Replying to a question, he said his faction will hold the next meeting at the Teja Singh Samundari hall.
    Giani Harpreet Singh, the former jathedar of the Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, was part of the Sikh clergy that had pronounced 'tankhaiya' (guilty of religious misconduct) for Sukhbir Singh Badal and other Akali leaders on December 2 last year.
    Earlier, Singh had opted out of the race for the post of president. But he was later persuaded to accept the proposal.
    Hailing from Muktsar, he had earlier been a priest in the SGPC-run gurdwaras. He was appointed as the acting jathedar of the Akal Takht in 2018.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)