Badal's resignation accepted by Akali Dal working committee, election of new party chief on March 1
CHANDIGARH: The first family of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) lost control over the 104-year-old party for the first time in three decades as the working committee on Friday accepted the resignation of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal. Sukhbir had headed the SAD from 2008 before which his father, former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, was president of the party from 1996 till 2008 when he handed over the mantle to his son and heir apparent.
After the two-hour meeting of the working committee at the party's headquarters here, SAD spokesperson Daljeet Singh Cheema confirmed that Badal’s resignation has been accepted. He said the working committee also decided to launch the membership drive for reconstitution of the organizational structure of the party on January 20. Cheema said the membership drive would last for one month till February 20 as the target is to induct 25 lakh new members and that the election of the party president would be held on March 1. "The parliamentary board of the party, which is headed by working president Balwinder Singh Bhunder, will take major decisions till then," he added.
Cheema further added that senior leader Gulzar Singh Ranike had been made the chief election officer to conduct the organizational elections. SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami has been given charge of Jammu and Kashmir and Hoshiarpur district of Punjab, Kirpal Singh Badungar of the entire Malwa region, Manpreet Singh Ayali of Rajasthan, Santa Singh Umaidpur of Himachal Pradesh, Iqbal Singh Jhunda of Malerkotla, Paramjit Singh Sarna of Delhi, Manjit Singh GK of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and Raghujit Singh Virk of Haryana.
He also made an appeal to all leaders who are presently outside the SAD due to initiation of disciplinary action against them to approach the disciplinary committee so that their cases could be taken up for their return to the party.
The move came after Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh asked the Akali Dal to implement its December 2 edict at the earliest, referring to its directive seeking the acceptance of Badal's resignation, which he had submitted on November 16. The working committee had then declined to accept it, urging him to reconsider and threatening collective resignation if he persisted.
Party leaders had been arguing that the party's constitution and its registration as a political party under the Constitution demanded it to remain secular, so receiving and implementing the directions of the Akal Takht would amount to violating the conditions of the registration.
Badal who had submitted his resignation attended Friday's meeting. Later, talking to the media, he said he had attended the meeting to stress upon the working committee to accept his resignation besides expressing his gratitude to it for the wholehearted support extended to him during his tenure as president.
"I am deeply touched by the love and trust they reposed in me. The delegate session of the party entrusted me with the responsibility of leading the party. In the past five years, I have given my best to serve the party. After completing my tenure, I gave my resignation before the working committee but it wasn’t accepted earlier for some reasons. I have now presented my resignation again to pave the way for the election of a new party chief," said Badal. He also asserted he would continue to serve the party and Punjab as a humble worker with renewed vigour and commitment.
The Committee on its part recorded the exemplary service extended by the president to the party.
Badal was declared 'tankhaiya' (guilty of religious misconduct) by the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, on August 30 last year. He had undergone religious punishment.
Meanwhile, the working committee took strong notice of the National Policy Framework on Agriculture Marketing which it said sought to destroy the entire agri marketing structure in Punjab and promote privatization. Asserting that it was being done to reintroduce the three agricultural laws, the committee demanded a special session of the Vidhan Sabha be convened to reject the draft framework on agri marketing. It condemned both the central government as well as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab for turning a blind eye to the grievances of farmers and not doing anything to ensure the end of the fast unto death of senior farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal.
The committee also slammed the AAP government for thrusting thousands of fake names into the voter list for the SGPC elections and demanded all fake entries be deleted immediately. It also condemned the manner in which the post of chief secretary had been created in Chandigarh besides other posts to further dilute Punjab’s right over the Union territory.