SAD leader Dyal Singh Kolianwali dies of cancer

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, March 15

SAD leader Dyal Singh Kolianwali, a close aide of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, passed away at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram on Monday morning.

The three-time SGPC member was suffering from blood cancer.

His political career began when he became close to SAD leader Jasvir Singh Kakhanwali of Lambi area. After Kakhanwali’s death, Dyal Singh became close to the Badals.

He started as a sarpanch of Kolianwali village and was the Muktsar district president of the SAD. He held several key positions–member of the Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board and chairman of Punjab Agro Foodgrains Corporation.

A resident of Kolianwali village in Lambi, he was currently focusing on Sarawan area comprising 17 villages.

Dyal Singh was not new to controversy. He was arrested by the state vigilance bureau in a disproportionate assets case in December 2018 and got bail in February 2019. In December 2004, Kolianwali, along with son Parminder, was booked in a murder case before being acquitted by a court in 2011. During the Assembly election in 2012, 15 packets of a suspicious substance were seized from his house. He was acquitted in the case.