SAD to Consult Leaders on Sukhbir Badal’s Resignation Decision

Chandigarh(The Uttam Hindu): The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) working committee, which met for three hours in Chandigarh on Monday afternoon, has not reached any decision yet on whether to accept or reject Sukhbir Singh Badal's resignation, said the party's working president Balwinder Singh Bhunder on Monday afternoon. Badal, president of the SAD since January 2008, had tendered his resignation to the committee on Saturday.The working committee has decided to take views from the district presidents of SAD, all the members of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), and the constituency leaders on the resignation. After listening to them, the committee would then decide upon its final move as we are an elected body and we cannot proceed without weighing the views from grass-root levels\", Bhunder said.

Badal made Bhunder working president of SAD on August 29 of this year. It branded him a "tankhaiya (guilty of violating Sikh religious code)" for alleged offenses committed by Badal between 2007 and 2017, which the Akal Takht claimed had "severely damaged the image of the Panth and threatened Sikh interests." These included failure to bring perpetrators of sacrilege incidents in 2015 to book and acquitting Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of a 2007 blasphemy offense. The "tankhaiya" status stands, as the Akal Takht Sahib has not issued a "tankhah (punishment).

We will be calling the district heads, constituency in-charges and SGPC members to the party headquarters on different dates to take their views. Later, a group decision will be taken: BhunderJ

ust hours ahead of the working committee meeting, Youth Akali Dal president Sarabjeet Singh Jinjher announced that he too would quit in case Sukhbir Badal's resignation is accepted. Second, senior SAD leader and former chief parliamentary secretary N K Sharma too has stepped down.