Close associates of Brahmpura accuse him of indulging in anti-party activities

Days after Akali MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura quit his party posts, many of his associates accused him Tuesday of indulging in anti-party activities.

Khadoor Sahib MP Brahmpura had relinquished all party posts on October 23 on health grounds.

Brahmpura and several other 'taksali' leaders (traditional Akalis) had expressed anguish over the previous SAD-BJP government's decision to "pardon" DeraSacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a blasphemy case in 2015.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim is now serving a 20-year jail term for raping two sadhvis.

In a statement here on Tuesday, Bramhpura's associates said he had joined hands with anti-party and anti-panth forces to weaken the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the party which had given "lot of respect" to him since his entry into the politics.

When the party was in power, Brahmpura enjoyed all the benefits of the office but when it went out of power, Brahmpura levelled unfounded allegations against it and its leadership, they rued.

They recalled that when the party returned to power in 2012 with comfortable majority, Brahmpura used to praise Sukhbir Singh Badal, but he was now raising fingers at the party leadership in a gross betrayal.

They asked Brahmpura as to why had he turned hostile now and who was the guiding force behind this nefarious designs.

These leaders sought to remind Brahmpura that he had contested the 2012 assembly elections and the 2014 Lok Sabha polls on tickets given to him by Sukhbir Singh Badal.

They said even his son Ravinder Singh Brahmpura was given tickets to contest the 2016 by-election and the subsequent 2017 assembly polls.

Showing complete solidarity with the party, Akali leaders said the party was strong and united.

"Some senior leaders had challenged the party even earlier but all of them had to retreat. But Bramhpura has not learned any lesson from the past," they said.

They said the entire rank and file of the Shiromani Akali Dal in Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency was "standing with the party like a rock" and no worker would side with Bramhpura.

Those who made accusations against Brahmpura includedthe party's former district president Alvinderpal Singh Pakhoke, SGPC general secretary Gurbachan Singh Karmuwala, its working committee member Kuldeep Singh Aulakh and former Zila Parishad member Prem Singh Pannu, among others.