CHANDIGARH: In a big loss to the Badal family, 90-year old Gurdas Singh Badal, younger brother of former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and father of Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, died here today.
The brothers were known as the 'Pash-Te-Dass-Di-Jodi' as Parkash Singh Badal was known as (Pash) and Gurdas Badal as (Dass). Both brothers separated politically a few years ago but their personal relationship remained intact and they would meet often. The jodi has now been broken.
The former Member of Parliament, who wasn't been feeling well for quite some time, died at around midnight due to a cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Mohali. This comes as a double blow to Manpreet Singh as his mother Harmandir Kaur had passed away on March 19 this year.
The two brothers had politically separated after decades as Gurdas' son Manpreet Singh Badal left the Shiromani Aklai Dal (SAD) and floated his own party People’s Party of Punjab (PPP). He eventually joined the Congress and is now the state finance minister in the Amarinder Singh-led cabinet.
For years, Gurdas had been the election manager of his elder brother and managed the affairs of the his constituency. However, in 2012 he contested against Parkash Singh in the Lambi constituency but lost.
Gurdas was Member of Legislative Council (MLC) from 1967 to 1969 and then Member of Parliament in 1971.
Keeping in view the current pandemic, we will like to request all friends and well wishers to refrain from attending the funeral ceremony which will be held in our ancestral village.
Sharing the information on social media, Manpreet Badal tweeted, "It is with great sorrow that I inform about the demise of my father S.Gurdas Singh Badal. He passed away last night at Fortis Hospital, Mohali. He was 90. His health had started deteriorating after my mother’s death in March, & he was on life support system for past few days."
"Keeping in view the current pandemic, we will like to request all friends and well wishers to refrain from attending the funeral ceremony which will be held in our ancestral village," he further tweeted.