SAD convenes Working Committee meeting on Nov 18 to discuss Badal’s resignation

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], November 16 (ANI): Shiromani Akali Dal Working President Balwinder S Bhunder has convened an emergency meeting of the Working Committee of the party on November 18 to consider Sukhbir Singh Badal’s resignation from the party’s President post.

SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema said that the Working Committee meeting will also discuss the party’s next course of action, including the conduct of elections for the new President. The November 18 meeting will be held at the party’s headquarters here, said SAD in a press release.

On Saturday, Sukhbir Singh Badal submitted his resignation to the party’s Working Committee to pave the way for the election of the new President of the SAD.

While submitting his resignation, Badal expressed his profuse gratitude to the party rank and file for their unstinted support and said he would always be beholden to them for the manner in which they had stood like a rock with him and extended their overwhelming cooperation to him throughout his tenure, said SAD in a press statement.

Cheema said that the last election to the post of the President and the organizational structure of the party was held on December 14, 2019.

He said as the elections were due next month, Badal had chosen to resign to clear the way for the conduct of this exercise.

“As part of this drive first a membership drive will be conducted following which Circle delegates will be elected. The Circle delegates will in turn choose the District delegates who will elect the State delegates,” Cheema said.

He said that the State delegates – who constituted the general house – would elect the President and office bearers as well as the Working Committee of the party.

Back in July, Shiromani Akali Dal dissolved its core committee after a meeting held in Chandigarh. Party leader Daljit Singh Cheema informed on X that the core committee will be reorganised shortly.

Earlier, some leaders including Parminder Singh Dhindsa, and Bibi Jagir Kaur, among others, launched a revolt against party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, demanding change in the leadership after the party’s severe drubbing in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Some leaders of the party held a meeting in Jalandhar seeking Badal’s resignation. However, some other leaders in the Akali Dal continue to repose faith in Badal.