Sukhbir Badal becomes youngest president of Shiromani Akali Dal

AMRITSAR: Sukhbir Singh Badal(46) son of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday became the youngest President of Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) replacing his father. Sukhbir, a Lok Sabha MP was recently appointed  working president of Party.



He was unanimously elected to the top post at the delegate session held here.It is belived hat this post is stepping stone for him to finally occupy the post of Chief Minister of state. He is being elevated as political heir of his father.

After handing over the party's reins to his son, Badal senior will now act as the patron of SAD. Badal told party delegates that he was not able to take burden of two posts. He said that it was decision of party delegates to give this responsibility to Sukhbir Badal.

Sukhbir's name was proposed by senior party leader and vice president Ranjit Singh Brahmpura and seconded by SAD general secretary Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.

The meeting also decided to extend the tenure of the president's post to five years from the present period of three years.

Sukhbir was appointed as the working president of the party immediately after the SAD-BJP combine romped home with a decisive win in the 2007 state Assembly elections. He was elected to 11th Lok Sabha in 1996 and remained Member Committee on Commerce ; Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Commerce in 1996-97. He was re-elected to  to 12th Lok Sabha in 1998 and on 19 March, 1998   had taken over as Union Minister of State Industry.

Born on jULY 9, 1962, Sukhbir Badal has done MA in Economics from Punjab University Chandigarh and MBA from California State  University, Los Angeles (U.S.A). Sukhbir married on November 21, 1991  with  Harsimrat  Kaur. He is seen as new corporate face of Punjab who wants to change the face of state.

His bio-data tells that he is an  Agriculturist, Political and Social Worker, Artist and Economist. He won North Zone clay modelling competition held at Chandigarh. He is managing a  school at Gidderbaha. He has special interests in tourism and development of his constituency.

His favourite pastime and recreation are travelling, skeet and trap shooting and making sculptures . He is member of   Golf Club, Chandigarh; and   President's Polo Club, New Delhi.

Shiromani Akali Dal is a party with long history of struggle and many stalwarts like Master Tara Singh, Sant Fateh Singh, Harchand Singh Longowal and Surjit Singh Barnala, beside Badal himself.

It was formed on 13 December 1920 after the formation of SGPC (Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee), a religious body formed as a result of movement to secure Sikh Gurdwaras from corrupt priests. So in a sense Akali Dal considers itself as a religio-political party and principal representative of Sikhs. Sardar Sarmukh Singh Chubbal was the first president of the Akali Dal but it was under Master Tara Singh that Akali Dal became a force to reckon with.

SAD launched Punjabi Suba agitation to get a Sikh majority state made from undivided Punjab based on language under the leadership of Sant Fateh Singh. In 1966, Punjab was formed but its division led to bitter conflict as neither parties were satisfied. Akali Dal came to power in Punjab but many a times their governments were dismissed by the Congress Party ruling at the federal level.

Akali Dal's history is also full of divisions and factionalism. Each faction claims to be the real Akali Dal. As of 2003, the SAD headed by Parkash Singh Badal was the largest faction and the one recognized as having the name SAD by the Election Commission of India.Other factions have included Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal led by Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Shiromani Akali Dal (Simranjit Singh Mann) (also called SAD (Amritsar)), and Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthik) led by Amarinder Singh (which later merged with Congress), Shiromani Akali Dal Delhi, Shiromani Akali Dal (Democratic), Haryana State Akali Dal and the Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal) and Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar(Punj Pardhani).

The basic philosophy of Akali Dal is to give political voice to Sikh issues (Panthic cause) and it believes that religion and politics go hand in hand. It's major vote bank is majority of 65 percent SSikh population in the state.

At the February 2007 Punjab state elections, the Shiromani Akali Dal won 48 of the 117 seats, the credit for which was given to Sukhbir Singh Badal.