Chandigarh: In a major blow to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab, senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa on Saturday resigned from all positions of the party. The veteran leader cited ‘advancing age and deteriorating health’ as the reasons for quitting the party.
Dhindsa, who was the secretary general of the SAD and a member of the party’s core committee, submitted his resignation to party president Sukhbir Singh Badal.
The resignation of the senior 'Taksali' leader comes at a time when the party has been ravaged by the fallout of the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report, which had indicted former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and son Sukhbir Singh Badal in connection with incidents of sacrilege and firing.
Dissenting voices against the leadership have emerged ever since the party decided to boycott the debate on the commission’s report in the Assembly.
The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party had in the Assembly lambasted the SAD for allegedly playing into Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s hands. The House proceedings further dented the SAD’s image as a political representative of the Sikhs.
Notably, Dhindsa had even skipped the party’s ‘Jabar Virodhi’ rally held in Faridkot earlier this month which was seen as a last-ditch attempt of the SAD to regain its Sikh vote-bank.
His son Paminder Singh Dhindsa, however, dismissed the speculations.
“He has been unwell for a long time. The speculations which are doing the rounds are completely wrong and the Badal family has always given us respect. My father has been with the party in the worst of times and will continue to do so”, said the former finance minister.
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