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SAD, BJP tie-up talks in advanced stage ahead of Lok Sabha polls
According to people familiar with the development, if all goes well, the alliance announcement is expected next week. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal is likely to meet the BJP top brass before it, it is learnt
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, political circles are abuzz with behind-the-scene parleys between the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to stitch up an alliance that was broken in 2020 in the wake of the farm agitation against the Centre’s three contentious agri laws.
According to people familiar with the development, if all goes well, the alliance announcement is expected next week. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal is likely to meet the BJP top brass before it, it is learnt.
With the BJP looking for a third consecutive victory in the LS polls, voices inside the saffron party to reach out to the former allies of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have grown shriller. Also, the Akali Dal, smarting under the crushing defeat in the 2022 assembly polls, is keen on ‘tie-ups’ that can ‘resurrect’ the Panthic party.
Parminder Singh Dhindsa, finance minister in the previous SAD-BJP government, confirmed that the two former allies were coming closer. Dhindsa said his father Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa was keen on alliance for the sake of Punjab and Punjabis.
A senior SAD leader, who did not want to be named, said: “Everything is set, and only announcement is pending as seat sharing is yet to be finalised”. It is learnt that the BJP wants to contest on six to seven seats out of 13 Lok Sabha in Punjab. The SAD, however, is seeking more seat share.
According to senior SAD leader Naresh Gujaral, the announcement for any alliance if any will take place after the ongoing Parliament session.
It is learnt that Sukhbir, who has embarked on Punjab Bachao Yatra to tour the assembly constituencies in the state, would be in New Delhi on February 12 and 13 for talks with BJP leaders. While Sukhbir confirmed that he would be in Delhi during this period, but refused to comment on alliance with the BJP. “Our party and its cadres are working hard, and we are focussed on our work,” he added.
The SAD had been part of the NDA since 1996 before it was forced to snap ties with it in September 2020 feeling pressure from the farmers’ community that was protesting against the agri laws. The BJP, at that time, had termed it as a step taken in haste.
BJP’s national general secretary BL Santosh is expected to arrive in Punjab on Friday to hold talks (regarding the alliance) with his party’s cadres in the state, it is learnt.
Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar refused to comment on the possibilities of the alliance. “I will give my view to the party when they will ask me,” Jakhar told HT. “The SAD is a representative political and religious outfit of a minority community which is in majority in Punjab. The stature of the party must be kept in mind before taking any decision on alliance,” he added. Sukhbir, as per reports, held a meeting with BJP leaders 10 days ago in the Capital that was followed by a meeting in Uttarakhand. In the Delhi meeting, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa was also present along with Sukhbir.
Currently, the SAD is in alliance with Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and had contested the 2022 assembly polls in alliance with the party. The SAD, however, had received a drubbing and could only manage to win three seats in the 117-strong state assembly.
