Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has appointed Harkesh Singh Mohri as the new president of its Haryana state unit in the presence of the party president, Sukhbir Singh Badal.
After the formal ceremony, Badal said the party aims to effectively amplify the voices of the Haryana Sikh community and Punjabis.
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“I am confident that he will discharge his new responsibility with utmost commitment and play a vital role in strengthening the SAD in Haryana”, he said.
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It is learnt that Mohri’s name was recommended by veteran SAD leader and observer for Haryana unit Balwinder Singh Bhunder. “After a detailed discussion with the party’s Haryana leaders, we zeroed in for Mohri for the coveted post”, he said.
Mohri was appointed nearly a year after the post fell vacant following the resignation of Sharanjit Singh Sahota in March 2025, along with the general secretary, Sarbjot Singh Sabbi and other leaders, lodging their protest against the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) executive’s decision of removing the Takht Jathedars allegedly in an arbitrary manner.
Bhunder said the need of reorganising the SAD in Haryana was felt as the feedback suggested that there has been widespread resentment against the functioning of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC).
SAD spokesperson Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said the SAD was into reorganising its organisational structure.
Cheema said the membership drive and the election of district and state delegates had already been completed, but the election of the state president was pending.
“With the selection of president, it would give a meaningful strength to the organisational structure of SAD in Haryana. We aim to provide a platform to the Haryana Sikhs and Punjabi community from where they could raise their concern”, he said.
The Sikh community in Haryana felt dejected with the internal bickering in the HSGMC leading to freezing its accounts putting breaks to any project pertaining to religious or for social cause.
The general house meeting to finalise the annual fiscal of the Haryana Sikh body for 2025-2026 worth Rs 104 crore in January was torpedoed
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has asked Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to refrain from tinkering with the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act, 2008.
A panel appointed by the SGPC argued that while stringent laws against sacrilege were essential, these should be enacted under a separate legal framework rather than diluting the 2008 law, which exclusively governs the printing, publishing and storage of the Sikh scripture.
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The panel, including Justice Mohinder Mohan Singh Bedi (retd), former PSEB Chairman Kehar Singh, submitted a joint representation to the Chief Minister