Elections to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee may still be a good six months away, but leaders opposed to Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal have already started backroom discussions and strategising. Their paramount concern is to put up a united face in the SGPC polls that many say could be a pointer to how the anti-Badal groups perform in the 2012 Assembly polls.

Though the SGPC elections were to be held by May 2009, these are now likely to be held in April next year.

Former SGPC secretary Manjit Singh Calcutta recently met Tamil Nadu Governor and former CM Surjit Singh Barnala at Circuit House here. They reportedly discussed ways to get all anti-Badal Akali factions on one platform. Barnala’s wife Surjit Kaur Barnala heads the Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal). Calcutta, who is the chief of the Shiromani Panthic Council (SPC), is also a patron of the SAD (Longowal). He said after the meeting that they would make every effort to unite splinter groups to come on a single platform to pose a challenge to the Badal-led SAD. Efforts are also on to rope in the SAD (1920) headed by Jaswant Singh Mann, and SAD (Amritsar) headed by radical Sikh leader Simranjit Singh Mann. Other bodies that Calcutta and Barnala would want to see on the platform are Dal Khalsa, the Khalsa Action Committee (KAC) and the SAD (Panch Pardhani).

Former Akal Takht jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh, who was unceremoniously removed from the post by Badal during his last term as CM, is likely to emerge as a significant player in the anti-Badal group.

Apart from groups in Punjab, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) is also reportedly willing to extend support to the unity effort. The DSGMC has convened a meeting in Delhi on November 9 on the Nanakshahi Calendar issue. Insiders say the SGPC elections are bound to figure in the discussions.

“Our agenda for SGPC polls is clear. We will go to the people with the issue of destruction of panthic institutions by Badal,” said Calcutta. He has already written to Chief Commissioner, Gurudwara Elections, Justice (retd) J C Verma, requesting him to hold elections at the earliest.