Crucial Akali meet today to decide Bibi's fate

Crucial Akali meet today to decide Bibi's fate
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Chandigarh, Nov 20: The crucial meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to be held here tomorrow is expected to decide the fate of controversial SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur, who has been charged by CBI with the murder of her teenaged daughter.

The official agenda of the meeting, to be held under the chairmanship of Punjab Chief Minister and SAD president Parkash Singh Badal, said it will "discuss party matters."

However, the issue of Bibi Jagir Kaur is expected to be raised by senior party functionaries and PAC members, including Union Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Punjab Finance Minister Captain Kanwaljit Singh, who have sought removal of the SGPC chief from the post.

With SGPC elections slated for November 30, the PAC is also likely to announce the name of party candidate, a party spokesman said.

Bibi is likely to be replaced by Cabinet Minister Sucha Singh Langha, or former SAD chief Jagdev Singh Talwandi, or senior party leader Balbir Singh Pannu, he said.

Bibi Kaur had announced that she would not step down from the post but accept the decision of the party high command as a `loyal party worker.'

Bibi, an MLA from Bholath constituency, is the first woman president of the SGPC.

Bibi replaced Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who remained the chief of mini parliament of Sikhs for 25 years, after being appointed as SGPC president in March 1998.

Controversies surrounded her one after the other after she took over the SGPC. She and the then Akal Takht jathedar Giani Puran Singh were at loggerheads after she hurriedly implemented the controversial `Nanakshashi' calender in the general house meeting of the SGPC.

Bibi was ex-communicated from the Sikh panth on January 25 this year after she failed to honour a hukumnama (edict) issued by Giani Puran Singh from Guna in MP.

She removed Singh and also got revoked many hukumnamas issued by him by the newly appointed Akal Takht jathedar Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti.

After the formation of Pakistan Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee (PGPC) she banned sending of Sikh jathas to Pakistan to protest the setting up of the body.

The controversy over the death of Harpreet Kaur, who died on April 21, started raging when a lawyers group filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking registration of a case of murder and CBI investigation into it.