Bibi Jagir Kaur extends support to BJP

Jalandhar, May 5

Less than a week after the announcement of Bains brothers to extend support to the BJP, former SAD leader and former SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur today extended support to the BJP.

Jagir Kaur formally extended support to the saffron party at a rally in a private resort here where she addressed a gathering in the presence of former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani and party candidate Inder Iqbal Atwal. Senior BJP leader Sarabjit Singh Makkar (also a former Akali) was also present on the occasion.

While Jagir Kaur was expelled from the SAD last year, her support had been sought by Rupani at a meeting on April 30. A popular Panthic face in Doaba and Punjab, her support has provided further boost to the ambitions of the saffron party in the state.

With just days to go for the Jalandhar bypoll, the BJP, armed with a robust (and some disgruntled) group of former Akalis, has made its roadmap amply clear.

Armed with this group of former SAD leaders, the BJP plans to “stand on its own feet” in the state. The BJP was the last to field its candidate in the Jalandhar bypoll and the party’s campaign started amidst uncertainty with the 2022 election drubbing still fresh in memory (BJP won only two seats). But party leaders have been dismissing the 2022 results as a consequence of “bad decisions” taken during the Akali-BJP combine in which they were “junior partners” and had no say.

Union Ministers Hardeep Puri, Anurag Thakur and Gajendra Shekhawat are among the leaders who said there was no possibility of an Akali-BJP alliance in future.