Chandigarh: In a setback for the Shiromani Akali Dal, party chief Hardeep Singh ‘Dimpy’ Dhillon on Sunday quit the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led party, apparently upset over his not being announced as the party’s candidate for the Gidderbaha legislative assembly by-election.
However, the SAD urged Dhillon not to be fooled by the propaganda of the “anti-party forces” and said it fully supported him in the upcoming by-election.
Dhillon’s resignation came amid rebellion by part of the party leadership.
Dhillon is considered a confidant of Badal and was the party’s constituency in-charge for the Gidderbaha Assembly seat and a candidate on the party’s electoral list in that constituency.
Dhillon had unsuccessfully contested his Gidderbaha Assembly seat in 2017 and 2022. In the 2022 general elections, he lost to Congress candidate Amrinder Singh Raja Warring by about 1,300 votes.
The by-election was necessary after Warring was elected to the Lok Sabha for his Ludhiana constituency.
Dhillon’s departure from the SAD comes at a time when the party led by Sukhbir Badal is facing the worst rebellion in its history: a section of the party leadership is rebelling against Badal and demanding his resignation as party chief following the SAD’s debacle in the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab.
On August 14, Banga MLA Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi quit the SAD to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Dhillon’s resignation came days after Badal toured the Gidderbaha Assembly constituency with him.
Although Dhillon said he would announce his next move after consulting his supporters, there was speculation that he might join the AAP.
Dhillon said he asked Badal who would contest the by-election as people in the constituency were asking about the party’s candidate.
“Biba ji (Harsimrat Kaur Badal) has indicated that Sukhbir will contest the by-election,” Dhillon said, adding that he had no objection to Sukhbir’s candidature.
But Sukhbir said he would not contest the by-election, Dhillon said.
Dhillon further said that Sukhbir’s cousin and BJP leader Manpreet Singh Badal had also been active in the constituency, suggesting that the SAD might field him.
He said his supporters had warned him that he could be dropped and urged him to announce himself as a candidate.
He said he had even asked the party leader to speak out against Manpreet, but he did not do so.
“I felt that I was becoming a stumbling block between the love of two brothers (Sukhbir and Manpreet),” Dhillon said, adding that he decided to quit the party after consulting his supporters.
Meanwhile, the SAD clarified that it had no intention of fielding a politician from another party as a candidate for the by-election.
Party spokesman Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said all such speculations were false and baseless.
Published 25 August 2024, 17:01 IS
