Akali Dal reduced to fiefdom of Badals: Congress ministers

Amid growing disenchantment within the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) with Sukhbir Badals leadership, several Punjab cabinet ministers on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the party, saying it had clearly been reduced to the personal fiefdom of the Badal family.

The Congress cabinet ministers Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria and Gurpreet Singh Kangar reacted sharply to Sukhbir Badal's wife and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal's increasing interference in the party affairs in the state as evident from her presence at the SAD core committee meetings despite not being its member.

It was ironical, said the ministers in a statement here, that the very Akalis, who had historically fought to free the gurdwaras from the hereditary control of the Mahants (the traditional clergy) were now being led by a similar hereditary command structure under the Badals.

"What is the difference between the heredity promoted by those Mahants/Udasis in British India and the Badals, who were openly and brazenly nurturing a similar culture to ensure that the control of the SAD remains with the family?" they asked.

Harsimrat Badal's increasing involvement in the SAD and Punjab affairs, even at the cost of her important work as a Union Minister, was a clear indication that the rank and file of the party were not happy with the leadership of Sukhbir Badal, the ministers said.

The SAD is in a complete disarray, particularly in the post-Prakash Singh Badal era, they observed, pointing to the rebellion by the Dhindsa father-son duo, who have been suspended from the party.

Member of Parliament Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and his son Parminder were suspended from the SAD on Saturday after a core committee meeting attended by Harsimrat Badal.

The Dhindsas had openly revolted against the stifling control of the SAD by the Badals, declaring their intent to liberate the party from the family and revive its lost glory, the Congress ministers said, citing it as just the latest example of the mounting disillusionment within the party against Sukhbir Badal's leadership and the lack of inner party democracy.

"If senior leaders of the party are so unhappy with the leadership and loss of ideology, one can only imagine how dissatisfied the ordinary workers would be," they said.

The Akali Dal had lost all credibility under the unprincipled, unethical and corrupt leadership of the Badals, who had lost all political integrity and had cut off the party completely from the grassroots in order to promote their selfish personal interests, , they added.

( With inputs from IANS )