CHANDIGARH: With fourteen months left for the assembly elections in Punjab, the buzz over the possible revival of ties between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is on.
Former chief minister and senior BJP leader Captain Amarinder Singh is reportedly advocating for a coalition between the SAD and the saffron party in the forthcoming assembly elections.
Terming that he is 'totally fit' and 'active' and gearing up for the assembly polls scheduled to be held in early 2027, Singh, in an interview with a media house, stated that having an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal can help the saffron party to win, as the BJP does not understand the State.
"There is no other way to form the government than by having an alliance with the Akali Dal. If you want to win the 2027 assembly election, you will have to build your cadre, but it will take two to three elections,’’ he said.
He added that he felt indebted to Punjab as the State has given him a lot and he owes it to give back whatever he can.
Last February, when the two-time chief minister, accompanied by his daughter Jai Inder Kaur, the state women’s wing president of the BJP, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Even then, he reportedly advocated for a coalition between the SAD and the saffron party for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
After the results of the Ludhiana (West) bypoll in June this year, as both parties ended up in the third and fourth positions, respectively, the talk of a possible re-alliance between them has resurfaced.
As a few middle-rung leaders of both parties had been pushing for an alliance between the two for a long time now, they insist that the re-alliance could make them a formidable force in the State.
Also, the state BJP president Sunil Jakhar had earlier made an emotive pitch to revive the BJP-SAD alliance.
When contacted, Punjab BJP General Secretary Anil Sareen said that the stand of the party is very clear that it is preparing to contest all 117 assembly seats on its own.
"Moreover, whether the party will enter into an alliance or not will be decided by the parliamentary board of the party," he said.
On the other hand, senior Akali Dal leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said that these are his (Amarinder’s) own thoughts and he will not contest on them.
Both Amarinder and Jakhar were earlier in the Congress and had joined the BJP a few years ago.
While Amarinder was CM, Jakhar was the Punjab Congress chief.
When Parkash Singh Badal was at the helm of SAD in 1996, he had announced an unconditional alliance with the BJP. The move then caught everyone by surprise. The two parties were ideologically different, but both derived political strength from their respective dominance.
The alliance ruptured in 2021 over the now-repealed three farm laws.