Punjab and Haryana were headed for confrontation over the issue of separate SGPC for the Congress -ruled state, with Parkash Singh Badal appealing to the Centre to intervene in the matter, while his counterpart Bhupinder Singh Hooda asserting that any decision will be taken keeping in view "aspirations" of Sikhs of his state.
Badal also said that Haryana's move was "politically motivated" and with an eye on assembly polls due in October this year even though the issue had been hanging fire since long.
On its part, the Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, which at present controls the affairs of the gurdwaras in Haryana but stands to lose authority if separate panel is formed, warned action against supporters of separate SGPC, saying that any such move will be "directly challenging" Akal Takht - the supreme temporal body of the community.
"If the separate SGPC is formed, the step will be directly taking on and challenging the Akal Takht. The word of the Akal Takht is final, but if some Sikhs still chose to ignore it and go against it, they are guilty and can invite any action as the supreme temporal body deems fit," SGPC President Avtar Singh Makkar said.
Badal slammed Haryana's move, saying "its nefarious designs to divide the Sikhs" would never materialise.
"It is unfortunate that the Haryana Government is reviving this contentious issue despite of the fact that the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had refrained it from taking this step during the rule of the UPA government," he said speaking to reporters in Kapurthala.
"I hope that the Union Government will intervene in the matter," he said.
Later in the day, Badal while interacting with reporters at Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur said, "this election stunt of Congress will not yield dividends for them as the Sikhs of Haryana have time and again rejected the demand for having separate body for managing the gurdwara affairs in the state.
