NEW DELHI: Putting their egos and personal issues aside the rebel leaders of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and splinter groups on Saturday put up a united front as they decided to join hands and come together against the first family of the party — the Badals — in order to get the party rid of their control.
These rebel leaders have been questioning the leadership and functioning of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Talking with this correspondent, former state finance minister, Parminder Singh Dhindsa who attended this ‘Safar-E-Akali Lehar’ function in Delhi along with his father Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, a Rajya Sabha MP, said, “A broad consensus have been worked out by everyone putting their egos and personal issues aside. As the Akali Dal has fallen down from its principles, ideology and values and the party has gone in the hands of one family and so is the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC). So they are getting all types of diktats issued from Akal Takht.”
“They have left all the real issues. In order to save the core values and ideology of the party everyone has come together and also get the party out of the hands of one family (Badals). For that one has to put in place a structure and system for the party. It has been suggested that the president of the party will be for only one fixed term and cannot be re-elected. Thus the nepotism and control of single family will be finished. Also the people who fight SGPC elections will not be allowed to contest any other political elections.’’
Ex-president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee Manjit Singh GK said, “This programme was not of one only but of all the Akali families who have been residing in the national capital and they came in big numbers as the Akali Dal will complete 100 years this year last year, Manjit Singh GK formed his own outfit which organised today function.
‘Badals are dictators’
The rebel leaders accused the Badal family of using the party for it’s personal and business gains and has suppressed the voices of the panth. They called the Badals as ‘dictators’ who have shown the doors to those who opposed them.