Old rivalry, new turf: Khaira, Jagir Kaur spice up Khadoor Sahib fight
HAVING FOUGHT FOUR ASSEMBLY POLLS FROM BHOLATH AGAINST KAUR, PEP CHIEF TAKES PERSONAL JIBES AT HER WHILE CANVASSING FOR PARAMJIT KHALRA
AMRITSAR: Punjab Ekta Party (PEP) chief Sukhpal Singh Khaira is slugging it in the Khadoor Sahib constituency against his old political opponent Jagir Kaur, the Akali Dal nominee, canvassing vigorously for his party’s Paramjit Kaur Khalra who is contesting under the banner of the Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA).
Khaira himself is contesting from Bathinda.
Khaira, and Jagir Kaur, a former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president, contested four assembly elections against each other from the Bholath seat between 1997 and 2012. Of the four contests, Kaur won three while Khaira managed his victory in the 2007 polls.
Paramjit Khalra is the wife of human right activists late Jaswant Singh Khalra.
Khaira is visiting the villages in the Khadoor Sahib segment twice or thrice a week to canvass for Khalra. On Monday, he visited Kapurthala district’s Lakhan Kalan village, which is part of the parliamentary segment, and targeted Jagir Kaur while addressing a gathering.
“On the one hand, there is this fashionable woman (Jagir Kaur) and on the other it is Paramjit Kaur who has been fighting for human rights. Jagir Kaur is not a panthic face. Now it is up to you to decide who you want to send to Parliament,” he said.
“As SGPC president, Jagir Kaur signed a contract giving free powers to TV channel owned by Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal for relaying Gurbani from the Golden Temple for 20 years. By doing so, she benefitted the channel to the tune of crores of rupees. Had she floated a tender for this, the Golden Temple would have earned crores. She misused her power and betrayed the devotees who donate money there,” he alleged.
Khaira dubbed her as a ‘kurimaar’ (daughter killer). Kaur was accused in the case of forcible abortion and abduction of her daughter Harpreet Kaur, who died under mysterious circumstances in April 2000. She was acquitted in the case by the Punjab and Haryana high court in December last year.
Jagir Kaur too addressed public meetings on Monday and resorted to Khaira bashing.
“Even today, people of Bholath assembly constituency consider me as their leader. No one approaches Khaira as he does not bother to listen to their grievances,” she said addressing a gathering at Kapurthala district’s Padhar village.