'I feel misfit': Anil Joshi resigns from SAD, says party entangled in Panthic politics

Former Punjab minister Anil Joshi on Wednesday resigned from the primary membership of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), saying the “party was only focused on Panthic issues and was bereft of progressive thinking and brotherhood”.

The development came days after Sukhbir Singh Badal resigned from the post of party president, although the SAD working committee refused to accept it.

In his resignation letter sent to SAD working president Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Joshi said he did not find any space for himself in the party that was mired in Panthic politics whereas he had always “stood by secularism and all-round development”. He, however, heaped praise on Parkash Singh Badal, saying the five-time CM was the champion of unity, integrity and communal brotherhood. “I had joined the party as I shared this belief and saw the same vision in his son too, but that is not the case anymore,” he said, adding the party had deviated from the real issues of Punjab and got entangled only in Panthic agenda.

He said after the demise of Badal, adverse circumstances and issues dominated the party, which eventually led to the resignation of Sukhbir. “In such a situation, I don’t think I can serve my people by staying with the Akali Dal,” he wrote.

Joshi, the then Amritsar North MLA, was the Local Bodies Minister during the SAD-BJP regime (2012-17). In 2021, he revolted against the BJP against the now-repealed three farm laws, which led to his expulsion from the party for six years.

Joshi joined the SAD ahead of the 2022 state Assembly elections and was appointed its senior vice-president. He unsuccessfully contested the Assembly poll on the SAD ticket in 2022 as also the Lok Sabha poll this year.