At centre, former SAD MLA Sarup Chand Singla (File photo/Twitter) Former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Sarup Chand Singla resigned from the party on Wednesday along with his supporters, and accused senior party leaders of campaigning against him in Bathinda Urban.
Popularly known as “Bau ji”, Singla is the first high-profile Akali Dal leader to quit the party after its tally plummeted to three seats in the recently concluded elections. This was the party’s worst-ever performance in Assembly polls.
Singla alleged that the party sabotaged his efforts to get elected by helping Congress candidate Manpreet Singh Badal who is SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal’s cousin.
“I have resigned from the party as the party could not stick to its moral values. I realised during the poll campaign that SAD leaders who sought votes for Badal senior [former CM Parkash Singh Badal] in Lambi used to seek votes for Manpreet Singh Badal in Bathinda Urban. Senior Akali leaders were helping Manpreet… Once this news spread, it caused the party to perform poorly and led to my defeat too,” Singla said.
While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Jagroop Singh Gill won the constituency with a 57.2 per cent vote share, Singla came a distant third behind Manpreet Badal. All Akali Dal heavyweights, including Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir Singh Badal, and Bikram Singh Majithia also lost.
The tension between Singla, who is a famous industrialist in the region, and the Badals came out into the open during the election campaign when he asked Sukhbir Singh Badal if “all the Badals had joined hands”.
Later, the Akali Dal chief responded by saying that the party’s interests were supreme and refuted the 61-year-old’s allegation.
Asked if he was going to join the BJP, the industrialist said, “I will talk to my supporters and will decide what to do next, I have not thought of anything yet.”
Singla is known for manufacturing the first ISI-marked diesel generator in Bathinda. In 1998, made headlines by leading an agitation against excise duty. In 2007, he joined the SAD and unsuccessfully contested from Bathinda Urban, losing to the Congress’s Harminder Singh Jassi. Five years later, he won from the constituency and became the chief parliamentary secretary in the SAD-BJP government.
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