SAD claims its acting district chiefs expressed faith in Sukhbir Badal's leadership

With a ''rebellion'' brewing in the party, the Shiromani Akali Dal on Thursday claimed that its acting district presidents in Punjab have expressed complete faith in the leadership of Sukhbir Singh Badal.

A conspiracy is afoot to destabilise regional parties, the SAD claimed in a statement and asked party leaders to desist from questioning Badal's authority or face disciplinary action.

The development comes in the backdrop of rumblings for a change in the leadership of the Shiromani Akali Dal.

Meanwhile, Akali leader Virsa Singh Valtoha, in an apparent reference to party MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali, alleged he had meetings with BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa in Delhi.

But Ayali refuted the charge of Valtoha and said he had gone to the national capital to bring back his wife who returned from Canada.

Ayali said he would leave politics if Valtoha's charge against him is proved.

Last month, the SAD leadership was left red-faced after Ayali went against his own party by boycotting the presidential poll, saying issues related to Punjab remained unresolved and he was not consulted by his party leadership before deciding to back NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu.

Ayali had sought the implementation of the recommendations of the Jhundan panel formed after the party's defeat in the 2022 assembly polls and had even spoken about a change in the party leadership.

The SAD statement on Thursday said 39 acting rural and urban presidents expressed faith in the leadership of Sukhbir Badal following a meeting held here under his chairmanship.

While three acting district presidents are abroad, one is incapacitated due to poor health, said the statement.

Senior leaders Iqbal Singh Jhundan, Virsa Singh Valtoha and Mantar Singh Brar said all acting presidents had made it clear that they had full faith in the farsighted and visionary leadership of Badal and that he will remain the president of the party.

They asked party leaders questioning Badal's leadership to discuss their reservations at an appropriate party forum and not to breach discipline.

Anyone breaching party discipline is not a well-wisher of the party and such indiscipline will no longer be tolerated, the leaders asserted.

They asserted that a conspiracy is afoot to destabilise regional parties and their leaders are being defamed.

The intention is to break regional parties to spread the hegemony of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has been witnessed in Maharashtra and even Bihar recently, they said in the statement.

The leaders expressed confidence that the BJP would not succeed in weakening the SAD in Punjab while adding that the party would never compromise on its principles.

Jhundan told the media the party panel headed by him had made 42 suggestions, which would be implemented in due course.

''We admit that there have been mistakes in the past but we are committed to correcting them. You will witness a definite change in the SAD in the coming days,'' he said.

The Jhundan panel was formed to analyse the reasons for the party's humiliating defeat in the Punjab assembly polls.

Several Akali leaders, including Prem Singh Chandumajra, had held a meeting at Amritsar on August 8 and had decided to meet Badal to discuss with him the issue of strengthening the party in line with the workers' sentiments, which have been recorded in the committee report.

On July 28, Badal had dissolved the entire organisational structure of the party in pursuance of the recommendations of the 13-member committee headed by Jhundan.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)