Moga: Veteran Akali Dal leader and former Punjab Agriculture Minister Tota Singh died in Chandigarh after a prolonged illness on Saturday. He was 81. Several leaders, including Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) President Advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami and several SGPC officials have expressed grief over the death of Tota Singh. Singh started his political career in the 1960s and became sarpanch of his native Didare Wala village, which falls in Nihalsinghwala Assembly segment of Moga district. In 1997, he was elected as MLA for the first time from Moga constituency and inducted as Education Minister in the Cabinet. In 2002, he was again elected to the state Assembly from Moga. In 2007 elections, he lost the Assembly polls. He shifted his focus to Dharamkot constituency in 2012 and won the Assembly polls. Singh was inducted into the Cabinet by Parkash Singh Badal and given the Agriculture department. On May 5, 2012, he resigned from the Cabinet, after he was sentenced to one-year jail by a special court for misuse of official machinery during his previous tenure as Minister. The High Court accepted the appeal filed by him and stayed his conviction. He was again inducted into the Cabinet and given the same portfolio. Singh lost the last two Assembly elections (2017 and 2022).