The Ministers of ruling Congress government in Punjab on Sunday said the Shiromani Akali Dal has been reduced to personal fiefdom of the Badals, a day after party suspended rebel Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and his son, former Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa.
Cabinet Ministers including Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria and Gurpreet Singh Kangar in a statement here said the SAD was in complete disarray, particularly in the post Prakash Singh Badal era, pointing to the rebellion by the Dhindsa father-son duo.
Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and his son Parminder were suspended from SAD on Saturday after a core committee meeting.
“The Dhindsas had openly revolted against the stifling control of SAD by the Badals, declaring their intent to liberate the party from the family and revive its lost glory,” the Ministers pointed out, citing it as just the latest example of the mounting disillusionment within the party against Sukhbir Singh Badal’s leadership and the lack of democracy prevailing in it.
“If senior leaders of the party are so unhappy with the leadership and loss of ideology, one can only imagine how dissatisfied the ordinary workers would be,” they said.
“The Akali Dal had lost all credibility under the unprincipled and unethical leadership of the Badals, who had lost all political integrity and had cut off the party complete from the grassroots in order to promote their selfish personal interests,” they alleged.
‘Time to step down’
The Ministers stressed that it was time for the Badals to step down from the SAD and hand over the party reins to those who remain committed to the Akali ideology.
“Else, the day will soon come when the Akalis would be completely wiped out from the face of Punjab (and Indian) polity,” they said.
