Describing him as “Paaniya da Rakha”, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday appointed retired canal patwari Jaskaran Singh Gehari Buttar as the party’s Bathinda Rural Assembly segment in-charge.43-year-old Jaskaran had been serving as the state president of the Nahari Patwar Union, Punjab, since 2017.While announcing his appointment as the party’s Bathinda Rural constituency in-charge, Sukhbir posted on X, “Jaskaran had resigned from service and formally joined the SAD. In 2024, he courageously opposed the Bhagwant Mann government’s order to record inflated canal irrigation figures. He was also prosecuted, including being suspended from service, for exposing this falsehood, but did not budge from his stand.”Earlier, Parkash Singh Bhatti was the SAD’s Bathinda Rural constituency in-charge, but he returned to the Congress in August 2024.Further, during the day, the SAD appointed Balwinder Singh Hakamwala, a retired revenue department patwari, as the new constituency in-charge of Budhlada in Mansa district.