Begowal (Kapurthala): Former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Bibi Jagir Kaur formally rejoined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday, November 15, at a gathering in Begowal, her hometown in Kapurthala district. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal inducted the 72-year-old former Punjab cabinet minister into the party along with her entire team.
Source: PunjabeNews
Badal also appointed Jagir Kaur as the party's constituency in-charge for Bholath and appealed to voters to ensure her victory in the forthcoming Assembly elections. Describing Bholath as a Panthic constituency, he said her return was encouraging for the party in the Doaba region, and he appealed to Akali leaders who had left the SAD to return to strengthen the Panth.
Source: PunjabeNews
Jagir Kaur quit the breakaway SAD (Punar Surjit), led by Giani Harpreet Singh, saying it had failed to achieve its objectives and that strengthening the Akali Dal was the need of the hour, according to India Today and the New Indian Express reports cited by Jugti. The rebel faction was formally launched in August 2025.
Source: Jugti
Addressing the gathering, Jagir Kaur acknowledged making mistakes in the past and said she would now work dedicatedly to ensure the formation of an SAD government under Sukhbir Singh Badal's leadership. She said major development works in Bholath, including the creation of a subdivision and a sewerage project worth Rs 72 crore, had been undertaken during SAD rule.
Source: PunjabeNews
What Badal said at Begowal
Targeting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, Badal alleged — as his allegation — that Punjab was facing a serious crisis, with drug trafficking and gangster culture reaching alarming levels, and he accused AAP leaders and MLAs of providing protection to drug traffickers. These are the SAD president's allegations, not established findings. He challenged the Congress and AAP to name one significant achievement from their respective tenures and promised — as his party's promise — that an SAD government would eliminate gangsterism from the state within three months and restore welfare schemes he said had been discontinued or diluted.
Source: PunjabeNews
Speaking to reporters later, Badal also criticised the state government over the contract for buses under the Mukh Mantri Teerth Yatra scheme, alleging that condemned buses were being used — again, his allegation. No response from the AAP government, the Congress or SAD (Punar Surjit) to Sunday's induction was reported in the reports reviewed for this story.
Second homecoming in just over two years
This is Jagir Kaur's second return to the Badal-led SAD in just over two years, The Unmute reported. She was expelled from the party in November 2022 after refusing to back down from contesting the SGPC presidential election, a race she lost to the official party nominee Harjinder Singh Dhami. She returned in March 2024, when Badal similarly welcomed her back, but later parted ways with the leadership alongside other leaders, first in the SAD Sudhar Lehar and then with SAD (Punar Surjit).
Source: The Unmute English
On the electoral front, Jagir Kaur has represented the Bholath Assembly constituency three times as an SAD legislator, winning in 1997, 2002 and 2012. She joined the Akali Dal in 1995. In the 2022 Assembly polls she contested Bholath unsuccessfully, losing to Congress candidate Sukhpal Khaira.
Source: The Unmute English
Her return comes days after former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra also rejoined the SAD, on November 6, as the party works to bring back former leaders ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections. The Begowal induction had originally been scheduled for November 13 and was postponed by two days, according to earlier reports, after Badal was called to Delhi.