Chandigarh: It was being expected for long.
Former finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa on Friday resigned
from the office of the Leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal Legislature Party. He
did not quit the party. The issue is not that of Parminder Singh Dhindsa but that
of the Leader of the Legislature Party in the Assembly raising the banner of
revolt.
Of course, he assigned no reason in his resignation letter
addressed to party president Sukhbir Singh Badal. This move was being
speculated upon when his father and Rajya Sabha member from Akali Dal Sukhdev
Singh Dhindsa resigned from all party offices including that of the Secretary
General. He too did not resign from the party.
Dhindsa Senior had taken this step to register his protest
against the functioning of Sukhbir. In the political affairs committee meeting
after the last Assembly election in 2017, he had argued for the resignation by
Sukhbir Singh Badal from party presidency for the dismal failure. The party
could retain only 15 out of total 117 seats in the House after having been in
power continuously for ten years. The Akali Dal won only two seats in the 2019
Lok Sabha elections.
The last time the Akali Dal was hit by similar crisis was
towards the end of 1998 when the party stalwart and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak
Committee president Gurcharan Singh Tohra had proposed that party president
Parkash Singh Badal should either quit this office or appoint officiating
president as he had little time to spare for the party affairs being the chief
minister. Tohra had raised this issue after the Akali Dal that had come into
power in 1997 winning the highest ever 75 seats (74+1) was defeated by six
votes from Adampur in the Assembly bye-election.
The crisis resulted in the vertical split. Tohra was ousted
not only from the all-powerful office of the SGPC chief but also the party. He
subsequently floated Sarv Hind Shiromani Akali Dal but the party failed to take
off. However, he succeeded in the ouster of Akali Dal from power in 2002
Assembly elections.
Towards the end of about yearlong behind the scene parleys,
he had come to the opinion that he would negotiate when there was level playing
field that meant defeat of Akali Dal in the Assembly elections. He ensured the
defeat of Akali Dal candidates. The two stalwarts united when Badal became
former chief minister. Badal had used state power to oust Tohra.
The situation in 2020 is different.
Sukhbir Badal continues to be under the shadow of Bargari
sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib. The Akali Dal is the weakest ever. The party
could not even retain Jalalabad, the seat vacated by Sukhbir Singh Badal
following his election to the Lok Sabha, in the bye-election. The only strength
of the Akali Dal is its alliance with the BJP and a cabinet berth in Narendra
Modi government.
However, speculations have been there for months about the
BJP looking for alternative. Presently, the alternative is just not there. However,
Sukhdev Singh Dhinda had been conveying in political circles that he took the
step only after getting signal from the BJP higher ups. It may be mentioned
that a senior BJP leader had discussed this issue with a Delhi based senior
Sikh leader too who suggested that only a Punjab based leader could mobilise
the Punjabis for a new outfit.
Parminder Dhindsa being strong or weak leader is not
important. What is important is the signal that the party president can’t keep
the senior leaders united. It is an open secret in the Akali Dal that several
other senior leaders are not happy with the state of affairs in the party.
The perception that the party is pocket borough of the
president has been reinforced with the appointment of Sharanjit Singh Dhillon
as Leader of the Akali Dal Legislature Party without any meeting. It is this
style of functioning of Sukhbir Singh Badal that is under question.
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