Rebel Akali leader Sikandar Singh Maluka back in SAD, to campaign in Ludhiana West
Welcoming him back into the party fold a year after his unceremonious removal as head of the SAD disciplinary committee, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said his return was a boost for the party ahead of the assembly byelection.
In the run-up to the June 19 Ludhiana West assembly byelection, veteran Akali leader and former cabinet minister Sikandar Singh Maluka was re-inducted into the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Chandigarh on Saturday.
Welcoming him back into the party fold a year after his unceremonious removal as head of the SAD disciplinary committee, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal described his return as “a major boost for the party”.
“It gives me immense pleasure to welcome veteran Akali leader Sikandar Singh Maluka back to the Shiromani Akali Dal,” Sukhbir said, acknowledging his contributions to strengthening the party under the leadership of former chief minister and party patriarch late Parkash Singh Badal.
“I am happy to be back in my party,”said Maluka, who is set to campaign for the SAD to win over its traditional base in the high-stakes assembly byelection.
In his post on X, Sukhbir urged Punjabis to unite in support of Punjab’s “only regional party” for peace and development in the state.
Maluka, who rejoined the party in the presence of SAD secretary general Balwinder Singh Bhundar and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema, was once considered a close aide of the Badals and had been the SAD’s Bathinda district president for 28 years.
His daughter-in-law, Parampal Kaur Sidhu, a former IAS officer, had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election from Bathinda in June 2024 as the BJP candidate against the SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Maluka’s son, Gurpreet Singh, is a former chairman of the Bathinda Zila Parishad.
Maluka had claimed that he had tried to stop his son and daughter-in-law from joining the BJP, but in vain. However, back then he had also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which had not gone down well with the Akali Dal leadership. In April last year, he was removed from the post of SAD’s Maur assembly constituency in-charge and was replaced by former minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon.
On July 30 last year, Maluka was expelled for anti-party activities along with Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) ex-president Bibi Jagir Kaur, former SAD MP Prem Singh Chandumajra, former ministers Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Surjit Singh Rakhra and former MLAs Gurpartap Singh Wadala and Surinder Singh Thekedar .The action had come a day after the rebel leaders announced a 13-member presidium to strengthen the Shiromani Akali Dal Sudhar Lehar (Shiromani Akali Dal reform movement).
The rebel leaders also had approached the Sikhs’ highest temporal seat Akal Takht seeking a pardon for mistakes committed during two terms of the SAD-BJP government from 2007-17. The Sudhar Lehar was dissolved last December on the directions of then Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh.
