Brahmpura rejoins Akali Dal

Former MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura rejoined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the presence of party stalwart Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday.

Brahmpura was the patron of the Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led SAD (Sanyukt). He was against an alliance or a seat-sharing arrangement between the SAD (Sanyukt) and the BJP for the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had earlier said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in talks with former chief minister Amarinder Singh and Dhindsa to forge an alliance with their parties.

A few days ago, the saffron party announced its tie-up with Amarinder Singh's party, the Punjab Lok Congress, for the Assembly polls due early next year.

Along with Brahmpura, other SAD (Sanyukt) leaders who joined the Akali Dal included Ujjagar Singh Badaali, Mohinder Singh Hussainpur, Ravinder Singh Brahmpura -- all of whom were appointed as vice presidents of the party -- and Karnail Singh Peermohammad, who was appointed as its general secretary.

Speaking on the occasion, Brahmpura said, "I was on leave from my parent party, just the way a soldier goes on leave before rejoining his battalion."

He recalled the SAD's sacrifices for the "panth" and Punjab and said, "Now, it is our responsibility to strengthen the party. We will go from house to house to usher in a new revolution in the state."

SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal said if he had got the opportunity to become the chief minister five times, Brahmpura had a big role to play in it.

"Brahmpura sahab is an Akali and will always remain an Akali. Today, I am very happy that two brothers have joined hands again," he added. Meanwhile, the SAD demanded that a high court judge should monitor the probe into the recent cases of "sacrilege bids" in Punjab.

The party announced that it would hold a "Panthic Rosh Ikath" at the Manji Sahib in the Darbar Sahib complex in Amritsar on January 2 to protest against the police inaction in the cases.

A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the party's core committee, which was presided by SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and attended by Parkash Singh Badal, according to a statement issued by the party.

After the meeting, Sukhbir Badal said, "Sikhs and Punjabis do not have any faith in the Congress government and its home minister. They are convinced that the government is bent upon saving those behind the heinous cases of sacrilege and does not have any interest in uncovering the conspiracy behind these incidents."

He said the government had failed to unravel the conspiracy behind the cases, despite the fact that the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) handed over the man responsible for throwing the holy "Gutka Sahib" into the "sarovar" at the Golden Temple to police.

"Had this case been investigated properly, the subsequent ghastly event of December 18 in the sanctum sanctorum of the Harmandar Sahib would have been averted," the former Punjab deputy chief minister said.

An unidentified man was beaten to death for his alleged sacrilege attempt at the Golden Temple on December 18.

With inputs from PTI.