Parkash Singh Badal Biography
Parkash Singh Badal
Parkash Singh Badal Biography
The ninety one year old Parkash Singh Badal was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Punjab from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002 and from 2002 to 2017. He has previously been the Chief Minister for short spells in the seventies and a longer time in the nineties. He served as Union Minister in the Morarji Desai Government in the seventies.
The veteran politician belongs to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), a party headed by his son Sukhbir Singh Badal. Sukhbir Singh Badal is currently the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab.
P S Badal was elected from Lambi constituency in 2012. He was also acquitted by a local court in Punjab over charges of disproportionate assets filed against him and his family by the former Chief Minister of Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh.
Background
The agriculturist politician was born on December 8, 1927 at village Abul Khurana in Faridkot, in Colonial British India and entered politics in 1947, the year India became independent. He holds a B.A. degree. His son Sukhbir Singh Badal followed his footsteps and has been a member of the Lok Sabha and a Union Minister.
Political Career
Though he entered politics in 1947, he was first elected to the Punjab state assembly in 1957. He has been elected as an MLA nine times since then.
In 1969, he was reelected to the Assembly and became the Chief Minister of Punjab. In 1972, though, he was no longer the CM but the leader of Opposition. He came back as the Chief Minister in 1977 and served for three years. In the seventies, during the emergency, he was jailed with other politicians under the infamous MISA (Maintenance of Internal Securities Act). He was again the leader of Opposition in 1980.
In 1997 he was elected to the Punjab assembly and served another term as Chief Minister, till 2002. SAD lost the assembly elections in 2002 and Badal served as the Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly.
During his long career he has held various positions in the Shiromani Akali Dal. He has been a member of its working Committee and its Senior Vice president. In 1996 he became the President of Shiromani Akali Dal; a post he relinquished to his son in 2008.
In the April 2012 State Assembly elections, the SAD-BJP alliance was voted to power on poll promises that stressed on developing the infrastructure, providing potable water and rural sanitation, bettering and upgrading the schools, and maintaining law and order in the State.
Though, his son Sukhbir Singh Badal, was widely conjectured to become the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal assumed the office of the Chief Minister of Punjab.
