A day after the Akalis virtually demonstrated their show of strength in the Dhindsa’s bastion — Sangrur, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday declared its decision of expelling the father-son duo — Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Parminder Singh Dhindsa.
The move came within a month after the party suspended the membership of the two from the party on January 11, besides charge-sheeting them for anti-party activities.
Thrown out of the party following the decision by the party’s core committee meeting, the rebel leaders, in turn, are not opening their cards on their future plans.
Akali veteran Sukhdev Dhindsa, who has been raising the banner of revolt against the party’s way of functioning especially against the Akali president Sukhbir Badal, is the member of the Rajya Sabha, while his son Parminder is legislator from Lehra Gaga.
Akali Dal senior leader and former Minister Daljit Singh Cheema said that their legal team would see what to do with their membership.
“The decision to expel both father and son was taken by the core committee…the Core Committee has only approved the decision taken by the party workers from Sangrur in the rally yesterday…they had demanded their expulsion,” he said.
It has been learnt that Dhindsas have been charged with anti-party activities as both of them have all along been criticizing the party leadership, and even joined hands with the Taksali faction.
Senior Dhindsa, who was the senior-most leader in SAD after the party patron and former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, had stepped down from all party posts in September 2018 citing “health issues and age”, a month after the party appointed Parminder as its leader of legislative wing in Vidhan Sabha in August.
After maintaining a distance with the party leadership since more than a year after his resignation from the party posts, Dhindsa finally came out in open against his parent Akali Dal by joining its splinter faction, SAD Taksali, to commemorate SAD’s 99th foundation day on December 14, 2019.
Parminder soon went incommunicado, and strategically chose to stay away from both the events — one organized by the SAD and another by Taksalis to commemorate Akali Dal’s 99th foundation day. He again gave a miss to the party’s protest dharna in the Chief Minister’s home city, Patiala, December 21.
On January 3 this year, Parminder finally decided to follow his father’s footsteps and resigned as the leader of party’s legislative wing, without specifying any reason.
Raising the banner of revolt, the two alleged that the Akali Dal was being run in an “undemocratic manner” and controlled by “a family”. In fact, they have a call to liberate the party from the control of one family and revive its lost glory.
Even as the war of words continued between the two sides, the five-time former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who has been maintaining a distance from active politics and party affairs, was forced to come out in his son Sukhbir’s support, and lashed out at the Dhindsa’s at party’s Sangrur rally on Sunday.
The senior Badal, addressing a massive gathering at Dhindsa’s stronghold, accused the father-son of stabbing the party in the back. “None would be allowed to weaken the SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) at any cost,” he had stated while backing his son’s claims of dubbing Sukhdev Dhindsa as “traitor”.
At that time, Sukhdev Dhindsa had stated that the fight was on between the “Akali Dal of Sukhbir Badal and the real Akali Dal”.
“Sukhbir and his coterie have taken over the party completely. Our fight is with them and the real Akali Dal," he told the media adding that like them many other leaders were feeling suffocated, but they were yet to speak out.