Anurag Thakur, Prem Kumar Dhumal pay tributes to SAD patriarch at Badal village

Chandigarh: Union Minister Anurag Thakur, his father and ex-Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and senior Congress leader Manish Tewari were among several prominent people who visited SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal's native village in Punjab's Muktsar on Sunday and paid tributes to him.

Badal, who became Punjab's chief minister five times and had been part of the movement for a separate Punjabi-speaking state, died at a private hospital in Mohali near Chandigarh on April 25, nine days after being admitted with breathing problems. He was 95.

Badal had not been keeping well and was admitted to the Fortis Hospital in Mohali on April 16 after he complained of uneasiness in breathing. He died on Tuesday aged 95.

His last rites were performed at Badal village with full state honours on Thursday.

Congress MP Jasbir Singh Dimpa, former Rajya Sabha member Tarlochan Singh, former Haryana minister Capt Abhimanyu, ex-Punjab minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, Congress leaders Navjot Singh Sidhu, Ashwani Sekhri, Shamsher Singh Dullo, former MLAs Sukhwinder Singh Danny among others paid tributes to Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday.

The grand old man of Punjab politics first became chief minister in 1970, heading a coalition government that did not complete its term. He served as chief minister in 1977-80, 1997-2002, 2007-12 and 2012-2017.

He became MLA 11 times, losing an election for the state assembly only twice. In 1977, he joined Morarji Desai’s government briefly as the Agriculture minister at the Centre.

In 2008, Badal handed over the reins of the SAD, which he had headed from 1995, to his son Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also became the deputy chief minister under him.

Born on December 8, 1927, in Abul Khurana near Malout, Badal graduated from Forman Christian College in Lahore. He entered the state assembly from Malout in 1957 as the Congress nominee. In 1969, he won the Gidderbaha assembly seat on the SAD ticket.

Badal's wife Surinder Kaur Badal died of cancer in 2011. They had two children - Sukhbir Singh Badal, the heir to his political legacy, and Parneet Kaur, who is married to former minister Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon. SAD chief Sukhbir Badal's wife is Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal.