Denied ticket, SAD MLA Maheshinder Singh from Baghapurana quits party

Singh, however, clarified he had quit the party but had not resigned as MLA.

Maheshinder Singh.

In the second case of rebellion in the ruling Akali Dal from Moga district, its MLA Baghapurana Maheshinder Singh quit the party Tuesday alleging “cops came to intimidate him at the behest of deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal”.

Singh, however, clarified he had quit the party but had not resigned as MLA.

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A few days back, party’s MLA from Nihal Singh Wala Rajwinder Kaur had also revolted against the party after being denied ticket.

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Singh, however, said he was not quitting the party because of ticket denial but the “way Sukhbir Singh Badal has treated his own men and even sent cops to his home to intimidate him”.’

The MLA alleged that three policemen from Moga and Bathinda came to his home Tuesday morning and intimidated him by threatening to link his name with some gangsters and implicate him in a false case.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Maheshinder Singh said, “I was summoned by Sukhbir Badal a few days back. He told me I would not contest this time. Asked about the reason, he had no clear answers. He offered me an ‘adjustment’ in form of some plum posting, but I refused. I am not greedy for any salary or posting. I was disgracefully dropped without giving any reason. My today’s decision to resign is not because of ticket denial. Today, three policemen dared enter my home and started interrogating me about a gangster. They even threatened to link me and my son with them. I asked my son twice if he had done something wrong, he took a swear on me that he didn’t. So all they wanted me to convey was that either I hold Akali flag or face consequences. Sukhbir Badal might be party’s God, but not mine.”

Maheshinder Singh is son of senior politician Gurcharan Singh who was two-time MP and five-time MLA. He defeated Darshan Singh Brar of Congress in 2012 by 10,000 votes.

‘I will contest’

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Alleging that “one family is calling the shots in entire party”, Singh said, “I am from a family that knows how to fight back. I am going to contest these polls. Let’s see if I fight as an Independent or from some other party. I am yet to take a call. Akali Dal is being ruled by one family. The deputy CM acts like a ‘boss’ who sits and everyone stands while talking to him. He can even get rebels implicated in drug peddling cases or get them killed.”

Divya Goyal

Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab. Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab. She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on “Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers” had won accolades at IIMC. She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012. Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab. ... Read More

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