Badal was a leader who fought for truth, his demise is huge jolt: Abdullah

Parkash Singh Badal was a leader who worked for the country and fought for the truth, and his passing away is a huge jolt, National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah said here on Wednesday.

The Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch, who straddled the politics of Punjab over seven decades and was chief minister five times, died on Tuesday. He was 95.

"The news about Badal's demise is very unfortunate. He was a tall leader in India. In fact, I will say that there was no leader like him. No one can forget the sacrifices he made for the country," Farooq Abdullah told PTI.

He said there is no leader in the country who is not paying tributes to Badal as "he worked (for the people) and treated everyone equally, irrespective of religion, language".

"He (Badal) worked for the country. Today, we have received a huge jolt as a tall leader has left us when the country is passing through a difficult period," the NC leader said.

The Lok Sabha member from Srinagar said the biggest tribute to the