Veteran Akali leader Surjit Singh Kohli passes away at 73

Patiala, August 29

Veteran politician and former Punjab Cabinet Minister Surjit Singh Kohli passed away in Patiala today at the age of 73 after battling a prolonged illness.

He is survived by his wife Ranjit Kaur, sons Ajitpal Singh Kohli and Gurjitpal Singh Kohli and daughter Simran Kaur. The family is learnt to be waiting for the arrival of relatives from abroad to perform the last rites.

Sujit Singh’s elder son Ajitpal is an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Patiala (Urban). Gurjitpal is with the BJP. Sujit Singh had won the Patiala (Urban) seat on the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) ticket in 1997. He then remained the Minister for Printing and Stationery during the SAD-BJP government. He lost the subsequent three Assembly elections to former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh.

In the 2014 Assembly bypoll, the SAD denied him the ticket and fielded Bhagwan Dass Juneja, who also lost to Congress candidate Preneet Kaur.

Sujit Singh wielded considerable influence among the urban Sikh community. He was sidelined after the formation of the SAD-BJP government in 2012 and even his son Ajitpal was not reappointed Mayor despite having won the civic elections.

In 2016, the SAD reappointed Sujit Singh as the president of its Patiala (urban) unit to strike a balance. However, the bonhomie did not last long and he snapped ties with the Akali Dal and supported his son who had joined AAP.

The family had around seven decades of association with the Akali Dal. Surjit Singh’s father Sardara Singh Kohli also represented the SAD as an MLA. Ajitpal, when in the SAD, was the Patiala Mayor from 2007-12.