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Day after being suspended for anti-party activities: Four-time MLA Jeet Mohinder quits SAD
Sidhu told reporters on Thursday afternoon that he was yet to receive any show-cause notice from any official channel of the party. He said he remained loyal to the SAD and did nothing that goes against the interests of Akali Dal.
Four-time MLA from Talwandi Sabo and senior vice-president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu on Thursday resigned from the party.
Sidhu said he would hold meetings with his supporters before making the next political move. He was suspended for pursuing ‘anti-party’ activities on Wednesday.
According to SAD’s official spokesperson Virsa Singh Valtoha, Jeet Mohinder, who was also the halqa in-charge of the party, was served a show-cause notice to submit his reply within 24 hours.
Sidhu told reporters on Thursday afternoon that he was yet to receive any show-cause notice from any official channel of the party. He said he remained loyal to the SAD and did nothing that goes against the interests of Akali Dal.
He said the Akali Dal has gone directionless and lost a sense of respect for committed party leaders active on the ground.
He said former MP Jagmeet Brar was also treated shabbily by the top party leadership and such an attitude would cost Akalis in the next Lok Sabha elections.
“I felt humiliated for an action taken against me undemocratically. Disciplinary action against me is a sham and shows a conspiracy against me. Senior party leadership should have contacted me if they had any issues with my activities. There is no point in waiting for the SAD to expel and I am quitting the party,” he added.
To a question about his next political step, Sidhu specifically mentioned his old alliance with former chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Captain Amarinder Singh.
“I want to clarify that I have not made up my mind yet,” he added.
In 2002, Sidhu won the Talwandi Sabo seat as an independent candidate defeating Congress’ Harminder Singh Jassi while in 2007 and 2012, he won as a Congress candidate. Later, he shifted his loyalties to Akalis and again defeated Jassi with a record margin in 2014.
However, in 2017, the veteran politician Sidhu faced an electoral debacle when he lost to AAP’s Baljnder Kaur, a novice candidate, and finished third.
In the last state assembly polls, Sidhu was defeated again by Baljinder by over 15,000 votes.
