Chandigarh: Ending speculation about its former ally Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD’s) return to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the BJP on Tuesday announced it would contest all the 13 Lok Sabha seats of Punjab, on its own.
With this, the stage gets set for a four-concerned fight as the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress are also contesting separately in Punjab though are constituents of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc.
Announcing in a video statement posted on X that the saffron party would not forge any alliance in Punjab, the state BJP chief, Sunil Jakhar, said that the decision was taken keeping in mind the future of youth and farmers of Punjab.
Stating that the works done by BJP under the leadership of prime minister Narendra Modi was not hidden from anyone, Jakhar said that the said decision was taken after consulting the people of Punjab, state BJP leaders and the party workers at grassroots level.
Committed to Punjab, Khalsa Panth: Sukhbir Badal
The SAD president Sukhbir Badal later said in a statement that his party was not a numbers-driven organisation but a movement committed to a clear vision about Punjab and the Khalsa Panth.
The SAD chief further said that seats or berths or their numbers were far below the interests of the Khalsa Panth and Punjab and the SAD core committee had spelt it out clearly in its meeting a couple of days ago that “unlike some national parties which were run from Delhi, SAD was a strongly regional party rooted in Punjab and driven by Panthic ideals’’.
Notably, in 2019, the SAD and BJP contesting as allies in NDA, had won four seats (two each) of the total 13 seats in the state. The Congress had won eight seats and AAP, one.
The SAD left the NDA in 2020 over the now-repealed farm laws which had triggered the farmers’ protest. The said contentious laws were revoked in 2021. In the 2022 assembly polls, which they fought separately, both suffered heavily with the SAD winning three seats and BJP, two, out of total 117 assembly seats and the AAP sweeping the poll with 92 seats.
