Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Dhindsa quits all Akali Dal party posts

Ruchika M. Khanna
Tribune News Service 
Chandigarh, September 29

Veteran Akali leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa has resigned from all positions in the Shiromani Akali Dal ( SAD) citing his "advancing age and deteriorating health". 

His resignation has sent the political circles in a spin, given that resignation of a senior “Taksali” leader comes at a time when the party’s facing its worst ever political crisis—politics over the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report on sacrilege incidents of 2015 have discredited the party as a political representative of the Sikhs. 

It may be mentioned that Dhindsa was not present in the party’s first “Jabar Virodhi” rally held at Faridkot earlier this month.Though his son and former finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa was present in the rally, his absence became a subject of political gossip. 

In his resignation letter sent to the party president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Dhindsa has said that he had always worked for the welfare of the party, but would not be able to work as the secretary general or member of the party core committee.