Ex-SGPC chief Jagir Kaur returns to SAD on eve of Lok Sabha polls

Chandigarh: Former SGPC chief Jagir Kaur rejoined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday, nearly 15 months after she was expelled for alleged 'anti-party' activities.

The development came days after Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa merged his Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) with the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Sukhbir Singh Badal and other senior leaders including Daljit Singh Cheema, Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon and Surjit Singh Rakhra visited Begowal in Kapurthala district to reinduct Kaur into the party.

Kaur, a former Akali minister, was the president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in 1999, 2004 and 2020.

She was expelled from the SAD in November 2022 when she stuck to her stand of contesting the SGPC presidential poll, which she lost to SAD nominee Harjinder Singh Dhami.

Kaur, who was once considered a loyalist to the Badal family, had then assured of restoring autonomy of the SGPC, the apex gurdwara body. Kaur had always maintained that she had not left the SAD, but it was the party which expelled her.

On March 5, former union minister Dhindsa had merged his party with the SAD.

The talks of the reunion commenced in December last year when Sukhbir Badal apologised for the sacrilege incidents that took place during the Akali regime in 2015.

He had then appealed to dissident Akali leaders to shun their differences to come under one flag.

The merger of the SAD (Sanyukt) had come amid the buzz over the SAD and the BJP reunion. The Akalis had quit the NDA in 2020 over the now-repealed farm laws.