Shiromani Akali Dal (Punar Surjit) president Giani Harpreet Singh on Tuesday took a swipe at Sukhbir Badal-led SAD, accusing it of adopting a contradictory stand on an Akal Takht edict directing the party to undertake its revamp under the supervision of a seven-member panel constituted by the temporal authority.The edict was issued on December 2, 2024, by five Sikh high priests, including Giani Harpreet Singh, after Sukhbir Badal and other party leaders were held guilty of religious misconduct over issues concerning Sikhs during the party’s decade-long rule from 2007 to 2017.The temporal seat had also formed a seven-member panel to undertake a membership drive for the party.While Badal had undergone the religious punishment handed by the Akal Takht, his party had rejected the panel, citing legal and constitutional obligations. The party carried out its own membership drive, leading to the re-election of Badal as the SAD president.Now, reacting to AAP MLAs’ appearance before the Akal Takht on Monday over the Jagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, 2026, Giani Harpreet Singh said he was thankful that AAP did not have “legal advisers like SAD leaders”.He alleged that the SAD legal advisers had earlier argued that political parties could not comply with certain Akal Takht directives because of constitutional and Election Commission provisions.He said if leaders such as Daljit Singh Cheema, Maheshinder Singh Grewal and Parmjeet Singh Sarna had been advising AAP, they would have claimed that the party’s MLAs could not appear before the Akal Takht as it could “invite constitutional complications or even affect the party’s recognition”.Cheema, Grewal and Sarna are considered close confidants of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal.Reacting to it, Cheema said there was a clear distinction between summoning MLAs of all political parties to the Akal Takht and interfering in the internal election process of a political party.Cheema alleged that the Congress had approached the Election Commission seeking cancellation of the SAD’s recognition, and claimed that Giani Harpreet had acted “hand in glove” with other parties to weaken the SAD.Slamming Giani Harpreet, Cheema said, “He is now speaking in favour of the incumbent government.”