Pact talks with Akali Dal in Punjab hit as BJP refuses to play second fiddle

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 11

With the BJP refusing to be a junior ally of SAD in Punjab, the talks of alliance between the two received a setback today.

According to sources, the main reasons behind the failure of talks were preconditions laid by SAD leaders and not offering a respectable share in the seats to the saffron party. The sources revealed that out of 13, SAD offered four Lok Sabha seats to the BJP. However, BJP’s national leadership confronted them with the statistics of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Home Minister Amit Shah conveyed to SAD leaders that the BJP contested three seats and won two out of them.

On the other hand SAD contested ten seats and could win just two seats. So going by the winnability criteria, the BJP deserves more seats.

The saffron party leaders tried to convey to SAD leaders that they in no way hold a smaller stature than them in Punjab. Apart from that, SAD leaders tried to lay the condition of freeing Sikh prisoners, which was outrightly rejected by the BJP, saying that there couldn’t be any precondition for the alliance.

A significant section in the core committee meeting of the Punjab BJP last week had opposed the idea of alliance with SAD. The saffron party leadership also conveyed to the SAD delegation that their local cadre was ready to go solo even if they lose all 13 seats.

The SAD-BJP alliance came into existence in mid-1990s under which the BJP used to contest 23 assembly and three Lok Sabha seats. However, at the peak of the farmers’ movement, the SAD walked out of the alliance and both parties contested 2022 assembly elections separately and suffered crushing defeat.

SAD chief mum on tie-up

Mohali: SAD president Sukhbir Badal maintained suspense over the party’s pre-poll alliance with the BJP ahead of the LS elections. During a SAD meeting here on Sunday, Badal told mediapersons that he too had heard that SAD was joining the NDA, “I am busy holding ‘Punjab Bachao Yatra’. Our alliance is with the BSP... they (Congress and AAP) have ruined Punjab...”

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