No matter how hard it dribbled, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leadership could not achieve its goal of pacifying the Olympian and former hockey player Pargat Singh on Thursday.
SAD MlA from Jalandhar Cantonment, Pargat Singh, refused to take oath as Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS), and stayed away from the function, even though a senior SAD Minister reached his home in Jalandhar early in the morning.
Sources informed The Pioneer that even as a senior Akali Minister went out of the way to persuade Pargat Singh to accept CPS post, the Olympian-turned-politician plainly refuted to fall in line. It has been learnt that the meeting lasted for three-long-hours but ended with no positive results for the SAD.
The development is significant as Pargat Singh has been upset with the SAD leadership, especially the party president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, since long. He has been skipping all the events, and functions of the Deputy Chief Minister in Jalandhar.
Available information suggests that the Olympian-turned-politician is unhappy over the Government’s proposal to set up solid waste treatment plant in his constituency. Grapevine is that Pargat Singh may walk out of the SAD and join either Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or the Congress.
Even as Pargat Singh’s decision has caused much embarrassment to the SAD, Chief Minister Badal maintained that his grievances would be looked into. “Any political party is just like a family and MlA is its member,” said Badal.
Elaborating, Badal said that Pargat Singh had some issue over a proposal of dump in his constituency, which was later on dropped and there was no question of any disquiet or unhappiness with the party. “If he still nurtured some grouse in his mind, that too would be resolved amicably at the party level,” he added.
A day after Pargat Singh’s name was announced among seven new faces to be inducted in Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s army of chief parliamentary secretaries, Pargat Singh politely refused to accept it. He shot off a communication to the Chief Minister “politely” refusing to accept the CPS post while maintaining that he wanted to continue and concentrate as MlA only.
Pargat, who was not available for his comments, has been opposing establishment of solid waste management plant in Jamsher village in his constituency in Jalandhar.
Notably, another party MlA, Inderbir Singh Bolaria, has also raised a banner of revolt against the party over the setting up of waste treatment plant in his constituency. Bolaria has recently been removed as party’s Majha’s youth wing’s president and also as CPS.
At the same time, Congress party asserted that the former Indian hockey captain’s refusal to be sworn in as the CPS was the “first sign of inter party revolt in the Akali Dal”.
Reacting sharply on the dictatorial attitude of senior SAD leaders, Congress leader Hans Raj Hans said: “If the pride of nation Pargat Singh and person like me Padmashree awardee cannot be accommodated in SAD, then this is the time the patron and the president of SAD should understand the gravity of the situation and they have started feeling the heat.”
The former Akali leader said that the party MlAs feel suffocated when they were not given a chance to express themselves on the party platform.
“This is what has happened with Pargat
Singh. Earlier, the same was done to me and now many more will follow the line. There is a big chunk of party leaders who are just waiting for the right time to make exit and join the Congress because they feel the Congress is sure to form the next Government,” he added.