SAD slams Delhi CM over DSGMC elections row

Hitting at Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit for advising her Punjab counterpart Parkash Singh Badal to "mind his own business" on DSGMC elections, Shiromani Akali Dal said the polls were party`s business.

Chandigarh: Hitting at Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit for advising her Punjab counterpart Parkash Singh Badal to "mind his own business" on DSGMC elections, Shiromani Akali Dal on Sunday said the polls were party`s business since it was "internal religious matters of the Sikhs".

"Will someone please go and tell her that Sikh affairs are very much a business of the Sikhs, and of the Sikhs alone, and that she or her government should stay away from the internal religious matters of the Sikh community," SAD party president and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal said in a statement here. "Let her instead use her position to ensure better law and order in Delhi. By openly talking about an issue which concerns our shrines, Shiela Dikshit has only confirmed Badal`s observation that the Congress government in Delhi is indeed interfering in the religious affairs of the Sikhs," he said. Dikshit had yesterday told reporters in Ludhiana that Parkarsh Singh Badal "should not interfere in the affairs of Delhi Gurdwara elections." Sukhbir said that he was surprised that the Delhi Chief Minister chose to speak on what is essentially a religious affair of the Sikh community and that she should be "so keen to protect her proteges". The SAD president also said that he was curious if the "Delhi government`s interference in the affairs of the DSGMC was a part of the Congress High Command`s policy and strategy. If that is so, may one ask what was wrong in Badal telling the Congress not to meddle in our affairs?" "Haven’t we suffered enough because of such ill-advised course followed by the Congress governments in the past? he added. Sukhbir reiterated Punjab Chief Minister`s call to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop the Delhi government from amending the electoral procedure for DSGMC. "The Delhi government must respect the letter and the spirit of the orders of the honourable Supreme Court that elections to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee be held in December," he said. PTI