Over three years after parting ways, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are likely to join hands again, ahead of the 2024 general election.
The SAD and BJP became alliance partners way back in 1996, but the controversy over the Centre’s now-repealed agriculture laws led to the SAD - one of the BJP’s oldest allies - breaking away from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2020. The SAD then joined hands with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the parties faced the 2022 Punjab Assembly election together.
While leaders from both parties are tight-lipped on a possible alliance, sources familiar with the development asserted that talks have been under way between the top leadership of BJP and SAD for some time. The “reluctance” of the top brass of both parties to enter into an alliance seems to have come to an end.
A senior leader of one of the parties, requesting anonymity, said, “Something is cooking. Both [SAD-BJP] sides are willing to get into an alliance. Earlier there was reluctance but it appears to be over now. Negotiations surrounding seat sharing are yet to be finalised, and unless that becomes a bone of contention, the alliance would proceed positively. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal is expected to visit Delhi in the coming week, where he could meet the BJP’s central leadership. Negotiation on seat allocation would be the key issue.”
With the Lok Sabha election around the corner, the SAD recently stepped up its election campaign with a “Punjab Bachao Yatra” (Save Punjab march) on February 1 to expose what it termed “misdeeds” of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress. While SAD leaders continued to target the AAP and Congress as the march made its way through different districts, there was a noticeable absence of anti-BJP rhetoric, indicating that the old allies could be cosying up.
There are 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, and the BJP is seeking at least half a dozen seats, sources said. In the 2019 election, as allies, the BJP contested on three seats while the SAD fought on the remaining 10, with both parties winning two seats each.
The SAD, which has been going through a challenging phase after the drubbing in the 2017 and 2022 Assembly elections, besides poor showings in the Lok Sabha bypolls as well, has been making desperate attempts to regain its space in State politics. The Akali Dal has been narrowing its focus on “panthic” (Sikh) issues and agenda to garner the support of the Sikh community, of which the party claims to be the sole representative. The SAD president had even sought “forgiveness” from the Sikh community for the Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege incidents that occurred during the last SAD-led government in 2015. He also apologised for not being able to apprehend and punish the culprits. The SAD president’s apology and appeal to the community to stay united under the “flag of panth”, and now the month-long march, is being seen as moves to revitalise the party.
Punjab has seen alliances being formed based on poll strategies. While partners of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the AAP and the Congress, are not keen to tie up in the State, political observers feel that the BJP and the SAD should forge an alliance, failing which the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could seize the advantage, both in the Lok Sabha and later the Assembly elections.
