Wanting BJP CM for long, can’t be junior partner in Punjab: Manoranjan Kalia

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Manoranjan Kalia on Thursday said his party had been pursuing the goal of have its own chief minister in Punjab for several years now.

On party colleague and former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s assertion that BJP could not form government without a tie-up with the Shiromani AKali Dal (SAD), the two-time state minister said he might be saying the truth but the BJP had decided to go solo.

“See, if small was beautiful for us, then we had small number of seats in alliance with the Akali Dal but small (share in seats) is no longer beautiful and enough for us,” he said in an exclusive interview with The Tribune.

He said there were no talks about an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) at this moment.

“The BJP had decided that it will contest the 2027 Assembly elections on its own. There was time when we used to fight elections in Haryana in alliance but eventually we went solo in the state and have got successive governments now,” he said.

He said in politics there was also a possibility of a pre-poll or post-poll alliance but as of now, the BJP is geared to contest elections.

“Close to the elections, the central leadership may gauge the political conditions for a pre-poll or a post-poll alliance but nothing before that,” he said.

Taking a jibe at suspended congress leader Navjot Kaur Sidhu’s allegation that the chief minister’s position was on sale during the Congress regime, Kalia said the Sidhu couple always had personal aspirations and this proved true with the accusations.

“They were with the BJP for many years. Then, Navjot Singh Sidhu joined the Congress and said he was a born Congressmen,” the senior BJP leader said.