Dera Sacha Sauda chief and MSG: The Messenger film hero Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has offered to support Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP candidates in the upcoming Punjab polls.
The sect followers will vote for the SAD-BJP alliance on 4 February, a Dera member said.
“After a meeting with the the sadh-sangat (followers), we have decided to support the SAD-BJP. Now our block members and 45-member committee will start sending text messages to our followers to vote for candidates of the SAD and BJP,” Dera’s political Affairs wing member Ram Singh was quoted in a Hindustan Times report.
The sect is said to have majority of followers in Punjab’s Malwa region, which has 69 of the total 117 Assembly seats.
The Malwa region’s SAD leaders, in return, announced on Wednesday that the party will facilitate the Dera’s ‘satsang’ programmes.
Back in 2007, the controversial Dera head faced serious flak from the Sikh community and leaders after he was dressed in an attire resembling that of Guru Gobind Singh at a congregation held in Salabtpura village. The Akal Takht, the highest temporal authority of the Sikhs, had then issued a hukamnama (edict) against him alleging blasphemy and also called for a social boycott.
It also sparked violence within the state.
In 2015, he was pardoned by the Sikh clergy and the move was allegedly seen as an attempt to win political support for the elections by the SAD.
According to a Firstpost report, the sect, which dates back to 1948, supported the SAD in 1998 elections and later the Congress. However, the Akalis had been trying to woo him for the past one year.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times and Firstpost)
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