Recently, before the Presidential Polls, Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal announced that his party would support the BJP candidate Draupadi Murmu in the Presidential elections. As per the numbers, SAD (Badal) has 3 MLAs and 2 Lok Sabha MPs – Sukhbir Singh Badal himself from Jalalabad and his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal from Bathinda.
After he announced that the Akali Dal would support the NDA, party’s own MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali decided to boycott the Presidential Polls. In his Facebook live, he not only critisized his own party for not consulting him before deciding to support the BJP, but also demanded the change in leadership in the Akali Dal.
“My decision is based on the sentiments of Punjabis, the unresolved issues of Punjab, and the feedback I got from some party leaders, supporters, various intellectuals and the Sikh community leaders.” said Ayali. Though the Akali leadership cleared that Ayali was not against Draupadi Murmu but didn’t cast his vote because the BJP has failed to resolve the issues of Punjab and its people.
“Our party took a lot of decisions against the sentiments of Punjab, due to which today the Akali Dal is left with just 3 MLAs, despite being the only political party which represents Punjab and its people”, said MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali, questioning his own party.
The Shiromani Akali Dal used to be the biggest political party in Punjab, but since 2017, its graph has been continuously declining. In the recent assembly elections, the SAD was able to win just 3 assemblies in the house of 117 seats in Punjab.
