SAD (Taksali) workers to campaign against Harsimrat: Brahmpura

Friday, 05/04/2019

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AMRITSAR : Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) president and member of parliament from Khadoor Sahib segment, Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, on Thursday said he would urge the rank and file of his party to vote against Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

He was addressing a press conference at his residence here when he said, “We will appeal to our workers to cast their votes against Harsimrat Kaur Badal from wherever she contests. Not only Harsimrat, we will also request our party workers to go against every member of the Badal family, which was solely responsible for the sacrilege incidents in Punjab.”

Brahmpura said they have fielded their candidates from Khadoor Sahib, Anandpur Sahib and Sangrur constituencies.

“Till now, we have not decided to field any other candidate on the remaining 10 constituencies,” he added.

He also cleared the air about the withdrawal of Gen JJ Singh’s (retd) candidature from Khadoor Sahib constituency by saying it was out of question.

Speculation were rife that the General’s name could be dropped to ‘favour’ Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra, who has been fielded by the Punjab Ekta Party (PEP) from the same Lok Sabha constituency.

“Reports of withdrawal of Gen Singh’s name are false,” Brahmpura said.

Speaking on the recent appeal made by Dakha MLA HS Phoolka, asking the taksalis to lend their support to Bibi Khalra and pull Gen Singh out of the fray, Brahmpura said the General’s candidature was announced almost a month ago, while Bibi Khalra was nominated recently.

“Only if her candidature was announced earlier, we could have considered fielding Gen Singh from somewhere else. But under the present circumstances, we cannot withdraw Gen Singh’s name,” he added.

Brahmpura also praised the special investigating team (SIT) probing the Bebhal Kalan firing and other related cases and said, “The Haryana government had deliberately denied SIT permission to question Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who is currently lodged in a Rohtak jail.”

“The government is trying to save the Badals,” he claimed.

NOT QUITTING THE PARTY: SEKHWAN

SAD (Taksali) secretary general Sewa Singh Sekhwan said there was no question of him quitting the party which he had helped to form.

In this context, he referred to social media reports that stated that Sekhwan was keen on supporting the PEP candidate from Khadoor Sahib in view of the ‘sacrifices’ made by her husband Jaswant Singh Khalra, who had died in police custody in 1995.

On chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s visiting the Radha Soami headquarters at Beas, Sekhwan said those who have no confidence to mingle with voters seek help from ‘deras’.