Rebel SAD leader Dhindsa set to float new party today

PATIALA : More than a year after upping the ante against the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa is set to announce a new political outfit on Tuesday.

The party is likely to be named ‘Shiromani Panthik Dal’, it is learnt.

“Had Sukhbir (Badal) owned up the responsibility for the Akali Dal’s defeat in the 2017 election assembly polls and protected the Panth by punishing the guilty of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib, I would have not taken this step. For me, Panth and Punjabiat are the foremost. Under Sukhbir’s leadership, the SAD has forgotten its original agenda and lost its base. The Punjabis need a platform to save the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and other institutions,” said Dhindsa, who was in Patiala for joining his camp of Congress leader Tajinderpal Singh Sandhu.

He said SAD patriarch and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal in the know of

every misdeed in the party and the SGPC, but he kept his eyes closed to protect Sukhbir.

Dhindsa, who had quit all party posts in September 2018 in the wake of a revolt in the SAD, said the same mafia which was ruling the roost during the SADBJP regime by exploiting mining resources besides dominating the liquor trade etc, is flourishing under the Congress now. There is the need to replace both the Congress and the SAD to usher in a new era of development in Punjab, he added.

Last week, Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) chief Brahmpura had offered Dhindsa to take over the party, but the latter declined to do so.

“My fight is to liberate the SGPC from the clutches of wrong people. Everyone who saw the Badal family as a threat to the Panth should support us. The party workers will decide our future tie-ups,” said Dhindsa.

He said that Badals have exploited the SGPC for their personal benefits. On the langar scam, he said there should be stringent punishment for misuse of the offerings of devotees by making forged bills.

“The SGPC should dismiss all those guilty,” he said.

On Khalistan, the Rajya Sabha MP said he did not support any such demand. “We will fight for rights of Punjabis, but will not go against the country,” he added.

› Had Sukhbir (Badal) owned up the responsibility for SAD’s defeat in the 2017 polls and punished the guilty of sacrilege, I would have not taken this step.

SUKHDEV SINGH DHINDSA, Rajya Sabha MP