Shameful & Disgusting

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Badal, Tohra ask Sikhs to support BJP :D @

Thursday, 31 July , 2003, 21:21

New Delhi: Ahead of Delhi Assembly elections, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Parkash Singh Badal and re-elected SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra have called upon Sikhs in the capital to support the BJP.

Describing the Congress as ''enemy of the community'' while citing historical events, Badal told a function hosted by Delhi BJP chief Madan Lal Khurana to honour the SAD and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chiefs that his party had an unflinching commitment to the ally.

Both the Akali stalwarts, who had parted ways in 1999 with the unceremonious removal of Tohra as SGPC chief by the Badal-dominated Committee, asked Sikh leaders of the capital to unitedly support the BJP which aims to oust the Congress from power here.

Their appeal assumes significance in view the BJP's poor showing in Sikh strongholds in the 1998 Delhi Assembly elections. The BJP could only bag 14 seats in the 70-member House, especially performing below par in the South Delhi Parliamentary constituency which has ten Assembly segments.

SAD Delhi chief Avtar Singh Hit and several other members of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) were present at the function which was attended by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani also.

Also in attendance at the function were Union Akali Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Chairman Tarlochan Singh and senior

BJP leader and South Delhi MP Vijay Kumar Malhotra.