Amid call for leadership change, SAD committee to hold meeting today

Jupinderjit Singh

Chandigarh, June 12

Nine days after the party’s poor show in the Lok Sabha poll, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) core committee will meet on Thursday to introspect on the election results in which the party could bag only one of the 13 seats in the state.

The meeting is scheduled to be stormy in the backdrop of voices within the party calling for a change in the leadership due to the poll debacle. Only sitting Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal is able to retain her seat while 10 of the remaining 12 contenders lost their security deposit.

The party had a vote share of 13.42 per cent, which was the fourth highest, even behind the BJP that scored 18.56 per cent of votes. SAD and the BJP contested elections separately after their over two-decade-long alliance broke over the three farm laws introduced by the NDA government.

SAD MLA from Dakha Manpreet Ayali has already announced to stay away from the party activities till there is a change in the decision-making process of the party.

Ex-MP Prem Singh Chandumajra has also said the party lost because of confusion over the policies.

Ex-MP and seniormost leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa has also called for a change in the leadership to save the Akali Dal.

However, party sources, close to the leadership, said there was no question of any change in the leadership. “This was an election for the Centre, not the state government. The voters either wanted to defeat Narendra Modi or repose faith in him for the third term.”

SAD and the BJP tried to have an alliance before the elections but they could not reach an understanding on seat-sharing.

Though the BJP could not win any seat, their vote-share increased three times to 18.56 from 6.6 per cent in 2022 Assembly elections.