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BJP will fight alone, bring change in Punjab: Santosh
Santosh, who started his two-day tour of Punjab to assess the party’s organisational position and preparations for the upcoming assembly elections, addressed two zonal workers meeting in Patiala and Bathinda
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Ending speculations of a reunion with the Shiromani Akali Dal, BL Santosh, national general secretary (organisation) of the Bharatiya Janata Party, on Monday reiterated the party’s stand that it will contest all 117 seats in Punjab independently and exhorted party workers to strengthen the BJP from the grassroots to ensure the party’s win.
Santosh, who started his two-day tour of Punjab to assess the party’s organisational position and preparations for the upcoming assembly elections, addressed two zonal workers meeting in Patiala and Bathinda.
Santosh’s statement came days after Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on August 7, fuelling talks of SAD’s reunion with its erstwhile partner.
It was the first meeting between Sukhbir and Modi since the Akali Dal severed ties with the saffron fold in 2020 over the three contentious farm laws, ending the 23-year-old alliance that began in 1997. The alliance formed governments in Punjab in 1997, 2007 and 2012.
Earlier, on August 11, Punjab BJP chief Kewal Singh Dhillon had also ruled out any alliance with the SAD.
‘Punjab ready for change’
In Patiala, the official statement released by the party quoted Santosh as saying that Punjab was ready for change and the BJP will be a key player in this transformation.
“The BJP is fully prepared to make this change a reality. In the upcoming assembly elections, the BJP will contest all 117 assembly seats in Punjab and, by securing a victory, will form its government in the state,” read the statement.
However, during the Patiala meeting, according to several BJP senior leaders, Santosh only encouraged workers to strengthen booth-level organisation, with no word on an alliance or not with SAD.
“He only said in his address that the party must make preparations to contest all assembly seats,” said a senior BJP leader who attended the zonal meeting in Patiala.
In Bathinda as well, according to another senior party functionary, Santosh refrained from giving any comments about the alliance.
“He told us that BJP will surely emerge as the party with highest seats in the assembly polls and we must strengthen our support base to be part of this history. He did not make any comments about an alliance,” a state office-bearer of the party said.
Another leader said Santosh asked the workers to take Modi government’s policies to each household in Punjab.
On the second day of his visit, Santosh will address zonal meetings at Jalandhar and Amritsar before leaving for the national capital in the evening.
A separate meeting with the state general secretaries will also be held in Amritsar.
Earlier this morning, Santosh was welcomed at the Mohali airport by BJP Punjab state president Kewal Singh Dhillon and Punjab BJP co-in-charge Narendra Singh Raina.
