Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patron Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, 85, died after a prolonged illness in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
Brahmpura was suffering from cancer and was hospitalised at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) for the past few days after his condition deteriorated.
The body was taken to his native village of Brahmpur in Tarn Taran district, where he will be cremated on Wednesday.
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In his death, the party has lost one of its oldest Taksali (traditional) Akali leaders as he was next only to SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal in seniority. Paying tributes, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal tweeted: “The passing away of tireless Panthic warrior and Akali stalwart Jathedar Ranjit Singh Brahmpura Ji is a massive loss to the Panth (Sikh community), Punjab and SAD. This has created a void that will be hard to fill.”
In his five-decade-long political career, Brahmpura represented Khadoor Sahib constituency in the Lok Sabha from 2014-19. The former SAD MP, who was referred to as Majhe Da Jarnail (General of Majha region in Punjabi), was appointed party patron last month. He worked closely with Parkash Singh Badal and was Punjab cabinet minister twice, heading the rural development and panchayat and cooperation departments. He was elected MLA four times.
He quit the SAD in October 2018, a year after the party’s defeat in the 2017 assembly elections, in protest against the party leadership’s failure to address the sacrilege cases of 2015 when the SAD-BJP government was in power. Then an MP, Brahmpura held the post of senior vice-president in the party and was a member of party’s top decision-making body, the core committee.
{{/usCountry}}He quit the SAD in October 2018, a year after the party’s defeat in the 2017 assembly elections, in protest against the party leadership’s failure to address the sacrilege cases of 2015 when the SAD-BJP government was in power. Then an MP, Brahmpura held the post of senior vice-president in the party and was a member of party’s top decision-making body, the core committee.
{{/usCountry}}He returned to the SAD in December last year ahead of the assembly elections in March, terming it a homecoming.