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BJP signals solo Punjab fight, but some eye SAD tie-up
BL Santhosh said the BJP will contest all 117 assembly seats during a Punjab visit, ruling out a revival of the alliance with the SAD.
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Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have publicly asserted that the party will fight elections scheduled for early next year in Punjab on its own. However, BJP leaders in the state said that the doors may still be open to erstwhile ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), with at least two senior leaders telling HT that negotiations for an alliance are still going on.
On Monday, the party’s national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, who was on a two-day visit to the state, said the BJP will contest all 117 assembly seats in the state, ruling out a revival of the alliance with the SAD. Expectations of an alliance had gained ground after SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal met Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month.
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Deep Dive
While addressing state party leaders, Santhosh said Punjab is ready for a change, and the BJP is prepared to make this change a reality. He also expressed confidence that the party would form its first ever government in the state, leaders said.
But a state leader said a segment of party leaders want to join hands with the SAD.
Talks in favour of alliance with SAD
“Moreover the SAD cadre also feels that their party will be better off signing a pre-poll alliance with the BJP…the mood on the ground is against the Aam Aadmi Party government and a strong alliance will hugely benefit. SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia too has made a public statement about the reunion being favoured by the people,” said this leader.
Last week, Majithia said SAD leader and lawmaker Harsimrat Badal had indicated that people in the state were in favour of the two parties renewing their alliance, which split in 2020 following a disagreement over the now-recalled farm laws.
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“Prepare to go solo”
While the negotiations on possible seat sharing are still a work in progress, the BJP does not want its cadre to depend on an ally, said the leader quoted above. The message to the cadre is to go all out to prepare for the elections on their own steam and not assume that the party will benefit from vote transfer between allies, should the alliance happen.
“Even in Tamil Nadu, before the AIADMK came back to the NDA fold, the party’s message to the cadre was to prepare to go solo. That is also the way forward to build the party’s own network on the ground and strengthen the organisation,” said the leader quoted above..
A second leader said the BJP’s leadership wants the party cadre not to get swayed by conflicting messages about the alliance being reworked.
“While state president Kewal Singh Dhillon and now BL Santhosh have said there will be no alliance, [SAD president Sukhbir Singh] Badal’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi (on August 7) sparked hope that the two oldest allies will reunite…it is therefore, important for the state leadership to focus on strengthening the party at the grassroots level as it does in other states,” said the second functionary.
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The BJP, which recently appointed newly appointed national general secretary Satish Poonia as the state in-charge, has begun the process of drawing up a possible list of candidates, identifying strongholds and building contact with various social and caste groups.
Largely confined to the urban areas, the party mostly drew support from a section of the non-Jats and Hindus and its vote percentage has been between 6 and 8%.
