CHANDIGARH: In a jolt to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), former Member of Parliament Paramjit Kaur
Gulshan on Saturday joined the faction of rebel Akali leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.
Along with the Dalit leader, former Youth Akali Dal (YAD) leader Bhola Singh Gillpatti and her supporters also joined the Dhindsa faction. Kaur was the MP from Bathinda in 2004 and Faridkot in 2009. Her father was the Union minister in 1977 in the Janata Party government and also a four-time MLA and two-time MP.
She alleged that the party has been mistreating SC leaders as their constituencies have been regularly changed. "MLA Darshan Singh Kotfatta was shifted from Bathinda Rural to Bucho Mandi and then to Malout," she said.
She claimed that her father Dhana Singh Gulshan who had done a lot for the party had been insulted as she had to run from pillar to post for a year to get his photo installed at the Sikh museum.
Dhindsa claimed that many other Akali Dal leaders are in touch with him as they want to leave the party and join his camp to save the party from the Badals. He alleged that SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal runs the party like a dictator and there was no democracy in the party. But when Parkash Singh Badal was the party president, he would listen to everyone.
"Akali Dal was a panthic party constituted in 1920, but today it has moved away from its core principles and is being run as a family enterprise,” he said.
Dhindsa had joined hands with SAD splinter groups including the SAD (Taksali) and says that his faction will join hands with any party to keep both the Badals and the Congress out of power.