Sukhbir Badal cracks whip, expels 8 rebel Akali Dal leaders

The action came a day after the rebel leaders announced a 13-member praesidium to strengthen the ‘Shiromani Akali Dal Sudhar Lehar (Shiromani Akali Dal reform movement)’.

Taking a tough stance, the Shiromani Akali Dal on Tuesday expelled eight rebel leaders for ‘anti-party’ activities. Leaders who have been expelled are former president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Bibi Jagir Kaur, former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra, former ministers Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Sikander Singh Maluka, Surjit Singh Rakhra, former MLA Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Surinder Singh Thekedar and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal’s political secretary Charanjit Singh Brar.

Former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra is among the prominent eight Akali Dal leaders who have been shown the door by the party.

The decision in this regard was taken in a disciplinary committee meeting headed by the party’s secretary general Balwinder Singh Bhundar. Maheshinder Singh Grewal and Gulzar Singh Ranike also took part in the meeting held at the party’s Chandigarh headquarters.

The action came a day after the rebel leaders announced a 13-member praesidium to strengthen the ’Shiromani Akali Dal Sudhar Lehar (Shiromani Akali Dal reform movement)’. The presidium included Wadala, Jagir Kaur, Dhindsa, Rakhra, Brar and Gaganjit Singh Barnala.

The rebel leaders had launched the ‘SAD Sudhar Lehar’ to ’strengthen and uplift’ the 103-year-old outfit and have been demanding the resignation of party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal following the Shiromani Akali Dal’s successive poll debacles starting with assembly polls in 2017.

The rebel voices in SAD grew stronger post the Parliamentary polls in which the party won one seat of Bathinda and lost deposits on 10 seats. Its vote share fell to 13.5% from 18.5% in 2022 state polls in which the party won three seats in the 117-member state assembly.

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 to 2017. Blaming Sukhbir, who then was the state’s deputy CM and holding charge of the home department, the rebels sought pardon for the appointment of Sumedh Singh Saini, who faces the allegations of fake encounters in Punjab during terrorism, as DGP, giving ticket to the wife of former cop Izhar Alam, Farzana Alam as party’s candidate from Malerkotla, which she contested successfully.

Rebels also mentioned a series of sacrilege incidents in 2015 and police action on protesters at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura which left two dead and several injured.

Sukhbir appeared before the Akal Takht on Monday last week and clarified his position on the issues raised by rebels. His communication has not been made public by the Sikh clergy, who are slated to meet soon to discuss the reply filed by the SAD chief.

Reacting to expulsion, Prem Singh Chandumajra said that it has once again proved that the party is being run like a private limited company. “The way action has been taken against us looks like a CEO has asked his subordinates to act. A leader of a party built on ideals and sacrifices can’t act like this,” he added.

Meanwhile, Bhundar said: “These leaders were weakening the party by actively colluding with the SAD enemies and were creating divisions.”

Bhundar further added that these leaders have wilfully damaged the image of the party as part of a wider conspiracy.

“The decision to expel the leaders had been taken with due diligence. They were given ample opportunity to discuss their issues in the party forum. The working committee meeting of June 26 had also appealed to them to discuss their misgivings in the party forum but they refused to do so,” Bhundar added.

Bhundar said instead of showing restraint, the party leaders continued ‘anti-party activities’ in a planned manner and made it clear that they did not have any faith in the party organisation. “Such acts of indiscipline cannot be tolerated,” Bhundar further said.

According to Wadala, this action amounts to a sense of total ignorance of what the party is facing. “The kind of decisions the party is taking shows that it is in a self-defeating mode. They are pulling down each other instead of being united in the face of the challenges faced by the party,” he added.

Additionally, seven halqa (assembly constituency) in-charges have also been removed. The seven constituencies which have fallen vacant (sans halqa in-charges) after the expulsion of these leaders are: Nakodar, Bholath, Ghanuar, Sanour, Samana, Garhshankar and Rajpura.