People want renewal of alliance with SAD, says ex-BJP minister Surjit Kumar Jyani

Senior BJP leader Surjit Kumar Jyani on Sunday said people in the state wanted the renewal of his party’s ties with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), a remark made days after BJP’s Punjab working president Ashwani Sharma said they would go solo in the 2027 Assembly polls.

However, he said it was up to the BJP top leadership to decide on the pre-poll alliance and they would abide by the decision.

Jyani, a former Punjab Health Minister, made the remarks during a camp organised by the BJP to apprise residents of the Centre’s welfare schemes.

He said this as people noticed photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and former CM Parkash Singh Badal displayed side by side on a wall.

When the reporters asked him about the Badal’s picture, Jyani promptly said, “The former CM lives in our heart. He was our ideal. He was a saintly personality and like a god for us”. He also credited Badal with development works carried out during the BJP-SAD regime. Earlier, Sharma had ruled out a tie-up with the SAD, the estranged partner of the BJP.

Prior to Sharma’s remarks, Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar had told The Tribune in an interview that his party’s alliance with the SAD was the need of the hour. He said this warning that forces inimical to the state’s interest were resurfacing.