SAD battling to bounce back in Punjab

Jupinderjit Singh

Chandigarh, May 31

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) goes to the Lok Sabha poll on Saturday with its back against the wall following drubbing in one election after another since 2017 in the state. The SAD has tried to take the fight to the opponents by carrying out ‘Punjab Bachao Yatras’ months before the elections.

We will prove all pollsters wrong by bagging all 13 seats. There has been an unprecedented response to our campaigning. — Sukhbir Badal, SAD president

The party which had won only two seats out of 13 in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections is looking for a big win to assert its claim of being the only regional party and the ‘true’ representative of the state voters. It has taken up strong panthic issue of release of ‘Bandi Sikhs’ besides putting up posters and banners to highlight Congress’ Operation Blue Star. At the same time, it has pitched for communal harmony by putting up candidates against hardliner Amritpal Singh.

The leadership of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal is under the lens as the negative outcome of the elections would again raise questions on his leadership.

Sukhbir started the election on a grand note by visiting several disgruntled leaders and brought them back into the party fold. He also introduced the ‘one family-one rule’ ticket to show the party was above any family. However, when it came to giving tickets, he cold-shouldered the same leaders. An example is ex-MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa who had left the SAD two years ago protesting the control of the Badal Family. He wanted a ticket for his son Parminder Singh Dhindsa from Sangrur but Sukhbir decided to give it to his loyalist Iqbal Singh Jhundan. Consequently, the Dhindsa family stayed away from the campaign.