CHANDIGARH: Amid the buzz that there might be a re-alliance between estranged partners Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP, and the breakaway Akali Dal faction, Shiromani Akali Dal (Punar Surjit), is being wooed to join a potential larger alliance between SAD and BJP in the state.
This has now run into trouble as SAD (Punar Surjit) president and former Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh is willing to join hands with the saffron party but has ruled out an alliance with SAD led by Sukhbir Singh Badal and also said it will be based on a clearly defined agenda.
Besides, he indicated that his party is willing to explore an understanding with Akali (Waris Punjab De), led by jailed Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, and other Panthic outfits.
The BJP too has indicated that it is keeping its options open, with a senior party leader saying the party was willing to explore an electoral understanding with SAD (Punar Surjit), Waris Punjab De and other Panthic groups, along with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Harpreet Singh said talks with the BJP were on. “We are open to an alliance, but it will be agenda-based. The BJP is free to form an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) if it wishes to, but we have made it clear that we will not be part of any alliance with the party led by Sukhbir Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur Badal,” he said and added that the party had no issue with the SAD as an organisation, but alleged that it had been reduced to a family-run outfit. “We are against the Badal family because, while in power, they turned their back on the Akal Takht,” he said.
Sources said that a meeting reportedly took place between senior BJP leader CR Patil, who is known for his micro-management skills, and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal in New Delhi early this week, and none of the parties confirmed the Patil-Sukhbir meeting.
But now the leaders of the breakaway Akali Dal faction, Shiromani Akali Dal (Punar Surjit), are being wooed to join a potential larger alliance between SAD and BJP in the state.
Sources said that senior leaders of Shiromani Akali Dal (Punar Surjit), including Bibi Jagir Kaur, Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Prem Singh Chandumajra and Gobind Singh Longowal, among others, are being engaged on the possibilities of contesting the 2027 Assembly elections as part of a bigger alliance of SAD and BJP in Punjab, but as of now there is no clarity yet on how and under what arrangement they will contest.
The likelihood is that they may contest on the traditional SAD symbol of ‘weighing scale’, considering they quit the SAD led by Sukhbir Badal on August 11 last year.
It is learnt that in the ongoing alliance talks, the factor of ten Akali Dal stalwarts who deserted Sukhbir Badal last year might also figure. All these leaders were part of the SAD in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when the party was ahead of the BJP in nearly 49 Assembly seats, and the BJP was ahead of the SAD on the rest.
Apart from these leaders of Punar Surjit, the other leader who left SAD and joined them but later joined Waris Punjab De is Manpreet Singh Ayali. The others are no longer with SAD: Justice Nirmal Singh, Harmeet Singh Sandhu, Iqbal Singh Jhundan, Hardeep Singh Dhillon, Guriqbal Singh Mahal and Sukhwinder Sukhi.
While the BJP is reportedly talking about any pre-poll alliance being based on the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, on the other hand, the Shiromani Akali Dal wants the average outcomes in the last three elections (2002 Assembly election, 2024 parliamentary polls and the recent rural and urban local body elections) to be factored in.
The main factor driving the logic of a SAD-BJP pre-poll alliance is their combined vote share of 31 per cent in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections (18.5 per cent for the BJP and 13.5 per cent for SAD).
While officially, the BJP has clarified that it will contest all 117 seats in the state.
While Patil yesterday met the party’s Rajya Sabha MP from the state, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, who was part of a seven-member Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha bloc which merged with the BJP in April this year. He is learnt to have discussed the prevailing political situation in the state with Patil, who has been informally asked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to oversee election management in Punjab. The meeting came days after Patil met Badal to discuss broad pre-poll alliance contours in the state.
The appointment of Patil as Punjab Election In-charge is yet to be officially notified, but he has begun Punjab poll management and is meeting principal players. Patil is yet to announce when he will visit Punjab.
Patil, a four-time Lok Sabha MP from Navsari, will be key to the BJP strategy in Punjab as he is PM Modi’s personal point man in the Lok Sabha segment of Varanasi too and is known for winning with astounding margins.