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The rise and rise of Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa

Neena Chaudhary in Chandigarh

The inclusion of Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministry as the minister for works and estates is significant, not least because his has been a meteoric rise from being a farmer in the backwaters of Punjab to the corridors of the highest decision-making authority of the country.

Sixty-three-year-old Dhindsa is known to be a "hardcore" supporter of the president of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the present chief minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal. He has been a member of the SAD since 1973, and has been the secretary general of the party since 1992, when Badal was heading a faction that existed on the margins of Akali politics.

Belonging to village Ubhowal in Sangrur district, Dhindsa has been a member of the Punjab legislative assembly for four consecutive terms from 1972 to 1985. He was Punjab's transport minister from 1977 to 1980, when he attracted attention by granting concessions for the plying of tractors as a means of transport for the farming community.

Dhindsa was also responsible for the use of improvised carts as transport for the poorer sections in remote rural areas. These carts, known as rehra, were powered by engines, which were otherwise used for drawing water from tubewells and other farm activities. The improvised carts, which had then become famous as "Dhindsa transport", were ordered off the roads by the Punjab and Haryana high court about five years ago.

Politics apart, Dhindsa has a keen interest in sports as well. Currently, he is a member of half-a-dozen sports organisations at the international, national and state level. He is also a management member of various voluntary organisations and trusts.

Dhindsa is reputed to be a manipulator, always in the thick of the factional struggles which erupt time and again in the SAD. His animosity for former Union minister and veteran Akali leader Surjit Singh Barnala is well known.

In a major electoral upset he lost the assembly elections in 1997 despite a pro-Akali wave. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1998, which meant giving up the coveted post of chairman of the Punjab State Electricity Board. Barnala attributes his own defeat in the recent election to Dhindsa and has been seeking disciplinary action against him.

The induction of Dhindsa has indicated that the SAD president, Parkash Singh Badal has resumed calling the shots in the dissidence-ridden party which was humbled in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

It will be interesting to see what Badal, after having got Dhindsa accommodated at the Centre, will do now to placate Barnala. Would another bargain be struck or would he resign himself to seeing Barnala join the dissidents led by G S Tohra and Ravi Inder Singh?

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