No alliance possible with Cong: BJP high command

A day after local units of both Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party indicated about entering an alliance to form the House in Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, the state BJP chief has shown a red flag to the district unit, putting at rest all speculations. Now once again Aam Aadmi Party is left as the only contender to form the House and install a Mayor from the party.

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With one more councillor from the Shiromani Akali Dal today joining AAP, the party now has 43 councillors in its kitty and is short of five more to prove majority in the House and get the Mayor from their party elected. Chatarveer Singh Kamal Arora, a SAD winning candidate from ward No. 20, today joined the AAP.

Vijay Rupani, Punjab in-charge of the BJP, issued a formal letter to the district unit and asked them not to go ahead with an alliance with the Congress. BJP district president Rajneesh Dhiman said that as stated earlier the alliance was possible only after they got nod from the party high command.

“The Punjab BJP chief has outrightly said no to this alliance and as said earlier we will not go beyond the decision taken by the party high command, so we have put an end to the talks in this regard. The only reason why we had initially decided to go ahead with this alliance was for the sake of development of the city. Now, the BJP and Congress alliance in Ludhiana to form the MC House is not possible,” he maintained.

Later, BJP MP from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh Bittu took to X and posted, “There is no question of an alliance between the BJP and Congress in the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation. Our goal is a Congress-free India and supporting it goes against our principles. These speculations should be put to rest as no such alliance is possible,” said Bittu.

District Congress chief Sanjay Talwar said that the leaders and workers of the local BJP unit understood the ground reality and the reason why it was necessary not to let AAP form the House, but their senior leaders have failed to do the same.

“It is very unfortunate that this alliance could not happen. The main motive behind this alliance was the development of the city. We will never support AAP and will sit in the opposition and prove a strong one, keeping an eye on every step taken by them in the House,” said Talwar.