SAD district presidents reject Sukhbir Badal's offer to resign as party chief
Chandigarh, March 17: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday owned moral responsibility for the party’s defeat in the Assembly elections and offered his resignation, which was firmly rejected by all district presidents.
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who interacted with district presidents on Wednesday and Thursday, besides the senior leadership, said, “The party and its well being are supreme for me. I have always acted in the best interests of the party. I own moral responsibility for the party’s defeat and am ready to step down."
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The party leadership, however, shot down his offer in unison with many district presidents bringing the hard work and intensive election campaign led by Sukhbir Singh Badal on record. A formal resolution was also passed unanimously to express complete confidence in the leadership of Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Speaking on the issue, the leaders said not only Sukhbir Singh Badal lead from the front, but also inspired the party leadership as well as the party cadre to give its best. The leaders said though the results were not as per the expectations, the SAD president could not be faulted in any manner whatsoever.
“People voted overwhelmingly for change and the entire opposition was swept aside in the resultant tsunami,” they added.
Giving their feedback at the meetings, the SAD grassroot leaders said, “At many places, the voters did not even know the name of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate, but voted for AAP while adopting the narrative of ‘badlav’. This cost the SAD dearly”.
Asserting that all was not lost, party leaders said, "The SAD has the ability to rise like a phoenix from the ashes and Sukhbir Singh Badal would play a lead role in this. The previous SAD governments have created benchmarks for development, infrastructure development and introduction of unique social welfare schemes which are ingrained in the minds of the people. The people even wanted to reward the SAD on the basis of its past track record, especially after the non-performance of the Congress government, but were swayed by the voice of change at the last minute”.
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Meanwhile, the district presidents also gave their suggestions on Panthic issues, besides stressing the need to forcefully take up all pending issues of Punjab and ensure their early resolution.
-PTC News
