Punjab’s ruling party, the Shrimoni Akali Dal (SAD), and the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appear to have resolved differences that cropped up after the SAD insisted on contesting the Delhi Assembly elections under its own party symbol.Although a formal announcement has yet to be made, sources in the party said it has nearly been decided that SAD candidates will fight under the party symbol in some constituencies and under the BJP’s symbol in others.The SAD had been adamant it would contest the polls under its own symbol. However, with the BJP high command — fearing defeat on some seats — putting its foot down, a middle path was worked out after a series of meetings with central BJP leaders.MP and SAD secretary general Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who flew to New Delhi this afternoon, is expected to meet senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley later this evening to formalise the agreement. This will be the first time the SAD (Badal) will contest Delhi elections under its own party symbol, for which it has already moved the Election Commission of India.Dhindsa told The Indian Express: “A formal announcement on all these issues is expected to be made on Friday. The Akali Dal will contest some seats under its party symbol and others, under the BJP’s.”Akali candidates contested four seats during the last Delhi Vidhan Sabha elections under the BJP symbol and lost. This time, the Akali Dal, which has the BJP as its ally in Punjab, had demanded 15 seats. Notably, the Assembly has 70 seats. The demand was cut to size by the BJP high command and the Akali Dal is now unlikely to contest more than five seats. Sources said the Akali Dal was almost sure to get the Adarsh Nagar, Rajouri Garden and Shahdra seats, besides a couple of other constituencies. On the rationale behind the “partial” use of its party symbol, a senior SAD leader said the BJP feared losing some seats, where other party candidates were expected to give a tough fight to the Akalis. “They were of the opinion that this impact could be negated by using the BJP symbol instead of the SAD symbol for these seats,” a SAD leader said.Sources said Ravinder Khurana from Adarsh Nagar, Shanti from Shahdra and Avtar Singh Hit from Rajouri Garden were being considered as frontrunners for tickets.
