Former Punjab chief minister dies
Kanwar Inder singh/ April 25,2023
Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal died a few minutes ago at a private hospital at Mohali.
Parkash Singh Badal, the former chief minister of was 95. Badal, a five-time chief minister, was admitted to the intensive care unit of Fortis hospital, Mohali following complaints of breathing difficulties on Sunday.
In 1959, he married Surinder Kaur. The couple had two children, Sukhbir Singh Badal and Parneet Kaur, who is married to Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon, grandson of former Punjab chief minister Partap Singh Kairon . Surinder Kaur died in 2011 after a long illness due to cancer.
Parkash Singh Badal was born on 8 December 1927 in Abul Khurana, near Malout. He belonged to a Jat Sikh family. Badal graduated from the Forman Christian College in Lahore and remained Chief Minister of Punjab from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2017. He is also the patron of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), a Sikh-centered regional political party. He was the president of the party from 1995 to 2008, when he was replaced by his son Sukhbir Singh Badal. The Government of India awarded him the second-highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan, in 2015.
Badal started his political career in 1947. He was Sarpanch of the Village Badal and later Chairman of Block Samiti, Lambi before rising into Punjab politics. He was elected to Punjab Vidhan Sabha in 1957 for the first time from the Shiromani Akali Dal political party . He was re-elected in 1969, serving as Minister for Community Development, Panchayati Raj, Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries. He was Leader of Opposition in 1972, 1980 and 2002. He has been elected in Vidhan Sabha for a total of 10 times, in 1957 and in each election since 1969, except for the February 1992 election, in which he led a boycott of state elections by the Akalis. In 1997 elections he won from Lambi Assembly constituency and has been a consecutive winner in four terms. He was a union minister in Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s government in 1977, serving as Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation.
(royalpatiala.in News)
