Amid speculation over a possible reunion with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2027 Punjab assembly elections, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday said he was willing to consider an alliance with any political party that accepted his party’s ideology and policies, while ruling out any tie-up with the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Addressing a press conference, Sukhbir, however, stopped short of confirming any progress towards a formal alliance with the BJP or when an announcement could be made.
Sukhbir’s statement came nearly three months after his August 7 meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi that reignited speculation of a SAD-BJP realliance.
This was their first one-on-one political meeting since the former allies parted ways in 2020 over the three farm laws. Before their split, the two parties during their two-decade alliance had together formed governments in Punjab thrice in 1997, 2007 and 2012.
In the subsequent Punjab assembly elections in 2022, the SAD suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat, plummeting from 15 seats in 2017 to just three in the 117-member assembly, with Sukhbir himself also losing his own constituency Jalalabad to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate. The BJP was similarly hit, dropping from three seats to two.
Though leaders of both parties have denied talks of a reunion, a second-rung leader of SAD privately confirmed that discussions for a partnership had reached the concluding stage.
{{/usCountry}}Though leaders of both parties have denied talks of a reunion, a second-rung leader of SAD privately confirmed that discussions for a partnership had reached the concluding stage.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier this week, Union home minister Amit Shah, in his address in New Delhi, announced that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will form the government in Punjab in 2027. This sparked conjecture about the possibility of a BJP-SAD alliance, even as a denial came from the saffron party’s Punjab unit president Kewal Singh Dhillon.
SAD gears up for statewide bus yatra in Nov
The SAD president was talking to mediapersons before presiding over a meeting of the party’s constituency in-charges. In the meeting with halqa in-charges, he asked them to prepare for the party’s statewide bus yatra starting on November 15, covering two constituencies daily.
The campaign, planned in the run-up to the 2027 assembly polls, was earlier scheduled from November 10, but has been deferred by five days due to the festive season.
During the meeting, Sukhbir also targeted the ruling AAP, stating that Punjab had never witnessed such a poor law and order situation. The administrative system has also totally collapsed under chief minister Bhagwant Mann, he alleged.
Commenting on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s upcoming visit to Punjab, Sukhbir said it would not affect Punjabis in any manner whatsoever, as they had decided to support “their own regional party which alone can rise up to their expectations and aspirations”.
Party vice-president Daljit Singh Cheema said Sukhbir will also undertake a special programme from Thursday under which he will meet traders and industrialists across 12 assembly constituencies.