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Although the break-up of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP in 2020 amid the farm law protests was acrimonious, whispers of a reconciliation between the BJP and its oldest NDA ally have been floating since the Union government repealed the three contentious farm laws in 2021.
Now with the Lok Sabha polls approaching, once again there is buzz in Punjab about backdoor talks between the SAD and the BJP to revive their alliance. On Saturday, sources within both parties said a first round of talks between their leaders took place in the last week of January and another is likely to happen soon. Answering questions at the ET NOW Global Business Summit the same afternoon, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “We always want that our alliance grows and we always welcome new allies. Our ideology has remained the same since the days of Jan Sangh. Those who would like to join us can come.”
A senior BJP leader said, “Discussions about reviving the SAD-BJP alliance were being held internally when the AAP and the Congress were also holding alliance talks (which have collapsed). Can’t say anything more, except that many senior SAD leaders are ready to join the BJP.”
The alliance talk in Punjab comes at a time when the BJP is said to be mulling over rejoining hands with its old southern ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of Chandrababu Naidu and has welcomed back Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) into the NDA fold. In Punjab, speculation about the former allies reuniting has emerged from time to time but there have not been any concrete developments yet. The reason is that there are major roadblocks that the BJP and the SAD have to overcome, given the changed political topography in the state.
Since being relieved of alliance responsibilities, the BJP has aggressively reached out to the state’s rural vote bank, especially in the Malwa region that once was an Akali stronghold. Throughout their 25-year alliance, the SAD contested 10 seats of the 13 in Punjab, leaving Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, and Amritsar to the BJP. The BJP is not expected to be satisfied with this arrangement anymore, especially given that the SAD is not the electoral force it used to be and the BJP has momentum with it ahead of the national polls.
BJP’s Punjab in-charge Vijay Rupani and organising secretary Mantri Srinivasulu are regularly conducting meetings in villages and towns across the state.
“We have set up village-level units in areas such as Sangrur, Mansa, Bathinda and Barnala, with over 10 members per unit. During the SAD-BJP alliance era, we used to have less than half the numbers in these areas, which used to be an Akali domain. Now, people are reaching out to the BJP even from remote villages, and we are telling them about various central government schemes that are not being properly extended to them by the state government (AAP),” said Satwant Singh Punia, a member of the BJP’s National Kisan Morcha who is also a working committee member of the state unit of the party.
Asked about the alliance talks, state BJP president Sunil Jakhar on February 8 said, “I am unaware of any development towards an alliance with the Akali Dal. No doubt talks of the NDA reaching out to former allies or vice versa are being heard. The BJP will hold its national council meeting in Delhi from February 16-18. Perhaps during the meeting or afterwards, something more will be heard about new alliances in different parts of the country.”
The Akali Dal is currently conducting its Punjab Bachao Yatra, in which Sukhbir Badal is being projected as its face, with both Sukhbir and his late father Parkash Singh Badal being described as “Vikas Purush”. The Yatra, which started on February 1 from the Attari border in Amritsar, targets the AAP government and aims to cover all Lok Sabha constituencies of Punjab, with Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib, Bathinda, Ferozepur, and Faridkot scheduled for February. “We will cover the rest in March, even if the election code of conduct is implemented by then, as it will then be part of our poll campaign,” senior SAD leader Balwinder Singh Bhunder told The Indian Express.
While many SAD and BJP leaders have made multiple statements hinting that they will fight the polls separately, crucially, neither party has criticised the other in their campaigns. Sukhbir Badal, in the past, has welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposal of “one nation one election”, leading to criticism from the AAP.
