After facing the party’s worst performance in the recently concluded Punjab Assembly elections, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) faced a major revolt on Wednesday when its senior leader and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (DSGMC) President Harmeet Singh Kalka quit the party and announced. To make a different outfit.
Indicating that a major brainstorming was taking place within the Akali Dal, 26 other members of the DSGMC belonging to the Akali Dal had decided to form a new organisation.
In view of the developments, the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led SAD called an emergency meeting in the afternoon and dissolved the Delhi unit of the party besides expelling Kalka from the primary membership of the party. It also announced the formation of a five-member ad-hoc committee, headed by veteran leader Avtar Singh Hit, to run the party affairs till the formation of the new unit.
SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema announced that Badal has also included the names of senior leaders S MPS Chadha and S Gurpreet Singh Jassa in the ad-hoc committee to run the affairs of the SAD’s Delhi unit.
Kalka said during a press conference that he would soon announce a separate Akali Dal for Delhi which would focus only on religious matters. “We are distancing ourselves from the SAD as it has failed to raise the issue of the Sikh sect and farmers, which have been the main issues behind the formation of the party,” he said, though the new unit would be religious. The members will be free to contest the election of their choice.
Besides, the resignation of Bathinda-Urban candidate and former MLA Sarup Chand Singla also came as a setback to the SAD. Making serious allegations against Badal, Singla said that he had helped his cousin and Congress leader Manpreet Singh Badal in the election from his seat. Interestingly, both Singla and Manpreet lost to the Aam Aadmi Party.
Two Akali leaders and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) members Baldev Singh Chunga and Kiranjot Kaur have also revolted against the party leadership and called for an “end of the rule of the clouds”. Badal’s wrong policies, including ignoring the demands of the Sikh Panth and joining hands with the Deras.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 92 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly, beating the Congress and the SAD-BSP alliance. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could win only three seats.
Among several political heavyweights, five-time chief minister, Parkash Singh Badal and his son SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal lost their respective seats in Lambi and Jalalabad in the state assembly elections, the results of which were declared on March 10. .
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