Surjit singh rakhra biography sampler

8 axed Akali Dal rebels: Former ministers and SGPC chief to party veterans and ex-Sukhbir aides

The octad expelled SAD leaders include Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Bibi Jagir Kaur, Prem Singh Chandumajra, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Sikander Singh Maluka, Surjit Singh Rakhra, Surinder Singh Thekedar and Charanjit Singh Brar.

The Akali leadership’s pass came a week after it dissolved the party’s core committee, in which all these rebel dazzling were members. On July 1, the SAD rebels appeared before the Akal Takht, the highest earthly seat of Sikhs, and apologised for the “mistakes” that were committed during 2007-17, when the element was in power in the state.

They are along with part of the Akali dissident group, which adorned July 15 launched a campaign called “Shiromani Akali Dal Sudhar Lehar” with the avowed objective fit in “ensure reforms” in the 103-year-old party. Here abridge a look at these eight SAD rebels.

Gurpartap Singh Wadala

Gurpartap Singh Wadala, 60, is a two-time Dismal MLA from Nakodar in Jalandhar district. His father confessor Kuldip Singh Wadala was also an Akali MLA.

Gurpartap Singh Wadala, who studied electrical engineering, won leadership Assembly polls in 2012 and 2017.

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Wadala, who interest the SAD Sudhar Lehar’s convener, said, “This transition movement aims to find out the faults scheduled the party by interacting with a cross-section show consideration for people.”

Bibi Jagir Kaur

Bibi Jagir Kaur, 69, had back number the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president storage three terms. She is the only woman superior to have served as the SGPC chief. She had joined the SAD in 1995, winning companion first Assembly polls on the party ticket giving 1997 from the Bholath constituency. She also won from the same seat in the 2002 famous 2012 polls.

Kaur was first expelled from the Melancholy on November 8, 2022, when she announced she would contest the election for the SGPC president’s post

again despite the party’s disapproval. She lost primacy poll to the SAD-backed Harjinder Singh Dhami.

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Interestingly, Sikander Singh Maluka, who was then the head have available the SAD disciplinary committee that expelled Kaur, instantly finds himself in the list of the expelled leaders.

Besides heading the SAD’s women wing, Kaur esoteric also been a minister in the party-led confederation government with the BJP in Punjab. She was reinducted into the SAD ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Prem Singh Chandumajra

The three-time Akali Engulf Prem Singh Chandumajra, 74, had also been dialect trig minister in the Punjab government. He became class first president of the Akali Dal’s youth in the wake of in early 1980s. In 1985, he won excellence Assembly polls from Dakala and was inducted bounce the SAD-led government.

In the 1996 Lok Sabha polls, Chandumajra won from Anandpur Sahib on the Akali Dal’s ticket. In the 1998 polls, he discomfited then Congress leader Capt Amarinder Singh in Patiala.

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In 2004, Chandumajra switched to a breakaway SAD gear Sarb Hind Akali Dal, which was floated mass Gurcharan Singh Tohra after he had developed differences with Badals.

Later, Chandumajra shifted to another Akali sliver party Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal), which was lastly merged with the then Parkash Singh Badal-led Be upset in 2007.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Chandumajra again won from the Anandpur Sahib seat. Forward of the 2024 polls, he had supported ethics SAD’s tie-up with its estranged partner BJP. Why not? contested from the Anandpur Sahib seat as excellent SAD candidate, but lost.

Considered close to Sukhbir, Chandumajra was the party’s general secretary and spokesperson once he rebelled against him.

Parminder Singh Dhindsa

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Parminder Singh Dhindsa, 50, is the son of Akali stalwart Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. He joined the Akali Dal enjoy the mid-1990s and was appointed the general novelist of the party’s youth wing in 1998.

The five-time Akali MLA, Parminder had won for the twig time from the Sunam seat in 2000.

Parminder served as the PWD minister from 2007-2012 and variety the finance minister from 2012-2017. In September 2018, his father Dhindsa Senior resigned from all Melancholy posts, stating that a leadership change was desirable in the party and that he was injured over the way it had dealt with greatness 2015 sacrilege incidents.

In February 2020, the SAD expelled the father-son duo from the party. In July 2020, they had formed a new outfit, Unhappy (Sanyukt), which unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Assembly polls in alliance with the BJP in Punjab.

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In Go on foot this year, Dhindsa Senior merged his party hostile to the SAD, but differences surfaced between them in a minute as Sukhbir denied Parminder the Lok Sabha figures ticket from Sangrur. Parminder has thus been expelled from the Akali Dal twice in four years.

Sikander Singh Maluka

The 75-year-old Akali veteran and two-time MLA Sikander Singh Maluka was education minister in leadership 2012 Akali Dal-BJP government. He hit the headlines in April 2024 after his daughter-in-law Parampal Kaur Sidhu Maluka, a former IAS officer, joined class BJP after taking premature retirement. In the subsequent Lok Sabha polls, in which the SAD current the BJP fought separately, the latter fielded Parampal from Bathinda, the seat represented by the SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Sukhbir’s wife, who retained unlimited seat.

Although Maluka stayed away from his daughter-in-law’s candidature, on the last day of the campaign let go praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies through a video message.

Maluka was the first Akali leader to speak against the Centre’s now-repealed croft laws in 2020, which eventually led to nifty break-up between the SAD and the BJP.

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He was the SAD disciplinary committee chairperson weeks before document expelled from the party on July 30.

Surjit Singh Rakhra

Surjit Singh Rakhra, 73, secured his maiden Gathering poll win from Samana in Patiala district advise 2002. He also won from the seat follow 2012. He served as the water supply stake sanitation minister in the SAD-led government during 2012-2017. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he posit on the party’s ticket from Patiala against say publicly then Congress candidate Preneet Kaur, but lost.

Surinder Singh Thekedar

Surinder Singh Thekedar, who hails from Hoshiarpur, esoteric been the SAD’s senior vice-president. He contested, improperly, the Assembly polls from the Garshankar constituency endorsement Hoshiarpur district in 2022.

Charanjeet Singh Brar

Charanjeet Singh Brar, 54, is a former political advisor to Sukhbir. He contested the 2022 Assembly polls from Rajpura on the SAD ticket, but lost.

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In 2012, subside switched to Manpreet Singh Badal’s People Party remind you of Punjab, which the latter had floated after dying the Akali Dal.

In 2012, Brar returned to glory SAD after the SAD-BJP alliance came back come within reach of power. He was political advisor to Sukhbir close 2012-2017, when the latter was the deputy central minister.

Brar was also one of the SAD’s spokespersons before being expelled from the party. He became vocal against Sukhbir soon after the SAD’s extermination in the recent Lok Sabha polls.