CHANDIGARH: Embattled Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday submitted his resignation, drawing the curtain over two decades of dynastic rule in the second oldest political party in the country.His position in the party had become untenable after the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, declared him a tankhayia (guilty of religious misconduct) two-and-a-half months ago but did not announce his sentence and barred him from any political activity.Ever since his father Parkash Singh Badal became party president in 1995, it became a Badal family pocket borough, with the baton of presidentship being passed to Sukhbir in 2008.On August 29, Sukhbir had appointed senior party leader Balwinder Singh Bhundar as the SAD working president. SAD leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said Bhunder has convened an emergency meeting of the SAD Working Committee on Monday at the party’s headquarters here to consider Sukhbir’s resignation and chart out the next course of action, including initiating the process to elect his successor. The last organisational elections within the party was held on December 14, 2019. Sukhbir had recently suffered a fracture on his right foot and underwent a corrective surgery at the PGI in Chandigarh. His resignation comes three days after he approached the Akal Takht with a fresh appeal to Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh (High Priest) to convene a meeting of the clergy soon to pronounce his religious punishment.On August 30, Sukbir was declared tankhaiya for the mistakes committed by his party’s government from 2007 to 2017 when he was deputy chief minister and SAD president. The Akal Takht said he took decisions thst affected the party and caused damage to Sikh interests. On October 24, the Takht barred him from political activity.
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