SAD yet to decide on Sukhbir Badal’s resignation; to seek opinion from party, SGPC leaders
On Saturday, Sukhbir Singh Badal submitted his resignation to the SAD working committee. Badal has been the party president since January 2008.
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SAD acting president Balwinder Singh Bhunder, SAD (Delhi) president Paramjeet Singh Sarna and senior leader Bikram Singh Majithia (right to left) at party's headquarters in Chandigarh.
The working committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Monday “unanimously appealed” to Sukhbir Singh Badal to reconsider his resignation as party president failing and asserted that if he did not accept the request the panel would resign en masse. The working committee, which met in Chandigarh, also alleged a “conspiracy” against the SAD to render the party leaderless.
“This is the need of the hour. The committee members asserted that they were aware that a conspiracy had been hatched against the SAD and that its main purpose was to render the party leaderless. We will not allow such a conspiracy to succeed at any cost. Sukhbir Badal is our leader and will continue to be our leader,” said Balwinder Singh Bhunder, working president of the party.
Badal, who has been SAD president since January 2008, submitted his resignation to the working committee on Saturday, weeks after he was declared ‘tankhaiya’ (guilty of religious misconduct) by the Akal Takht.
The committee — the supreme body of the SAD — has not taken any decision on Badal’s resignation. “The committee decided to take opinions of party district presidents, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and the leaders in charge of constituencies before taking a final call,” Bhunder said.
The working committee meeting was called to consider Badal’s resignation and chart out the next course of action, including the conduct of elections for the new president of the party. Among others, senior leaders Daljit Singh Cheema, Bikram Singh Majithia and Paramjit Singh Sarna attended the meeting that lasted for about three hours.
The Akal Takht on August 30 had declared Badal a “tankhaiya” in connection with alleged mistakes made by him and the party between 2007 and 2017 that the Akal Takht deemed had “deeply harmed the image of the Panth and caused damage to Sikh interests”. This included the failure to punish those responsible for the 2015 sacrilege incidents and pardoning Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a 2007 blasphemy case. The “tankhaiya” status continues as the Akal Takht Sahib is yet to announce a “tankhah (punishment)”.
Bhundar said committee members “stood up collectively in one voice and asserted that they would also tender their resignation in case the President did not withdraw his resignation”
He claimed he has been receiving calls from district presidents, ‘halka’ in charges, SGPC members and Youth Akali Dal and Istri Akali Dal members and “some have already forwarded their resignations” to express solidarity with Badal.
Former MLA and senior party leader N K Sharma too tendered his resignation from the SAD saying “If Sukhbir Badal is not the president then I cannot be in the party”. He said he has informed the working committee that when Badal becomes the president, he too will join party. He alleged that Badal was being “humiliated under a well-planned conspiracy”.
Hours before the working committee meeting, YAD president Sarabjeet Singh Jinjher announced that if Badal’s resignation is accepted, he too will resign. Ludhiana (Urban) president Bhupinder Singh Bhinda resigned on Sunday.
SAD spokesperson Daljeet Singh Cheema confirmed that a decision will be taken regarding Badal’s resignation after talking to several leaders as “the emotions of many are connected with the party and its leaders.”
The meeting also discussed other issues. “We also passed a resolution not to allow Haryana to take even an inch of land from Chandigarh. We will continue to fight for the rights of farmers and labourers. Our struggle will also continue to resume elections to the Panjab University senate. We condemn the stand of both the Centre and Punjab government towards the case of release of Sikh prisoners lodged in jail even after completing their terms,” senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said.
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