Ministers of the ruling Congress government in Punjab on Sunday said the Shiromani Akali Dal had been reduced as the 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 a complete disarray, particularly in the post Prakash Singh Badal era, pointing to the rebellion by the Dhindsas.
Both the Dhindsas were suspended from SAD on Saturday after the 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 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 has lost all credibility under the unprincipled and unethical leadership of the Badals, who have lost political integrity and have cut off the party from the grassroots to promote their selfish interests.”
The Ministers said it was time for them to step down 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 wiped out from the face of Punjab [and Indian] polity,” they said.
