AMRITSAR: In a blow to SAD, senior SAD leader and Lok Sabha MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura Tuesday relinquished all party posts on health grounds, the second party leader to do so within a month.
The Khadoor Sahib MP, who was holding the post of senior vice-president and was a member of party's core committee, also declared he would not contest the next Lok Sabha polls, but would complete this term.
Addressing the media at his residence here, Brahmpura said he was upset with the way the sacrilege incidents were handled by the previous SAD-BJP government.
Brahmpura is the second senior leader to quit the party within a month after Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa had resigned as party secretary general and its core committee, also on health grounds.
Brahmpura, a Taksali (traditional Akali leader), said he would remain active in politics and continue to work as a member of the party, but without holding any office.
He was accompanied by senior Akali leader Rattan Singh Ajnala.
He also expressed anguish over the previous government's decision to pardon Dera Sacha Sauda sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, now jailed in rape cases, in a blasphemy case in 2015.
Taking a jibe at his party's leadership, Brahmpura said he was was not as "important" a personality as Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia.
He said he was a simple and down to earth person.