NEW DELHI, Mar 26: The BJP has decided to go alone in Punjab in the elections to the Lok Sabha. The party announced on Tuesday that it would contest all 13 seats in Punjab on its own, ending speculation about Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)’s return to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and setting the stage for a four-cornered fight in the state.
Sources said the BJP chief JP Nadda called SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday night and made a last-ditch effort to seal the alliance. But the Akalis insisted on accepting its demands, which included shifting radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh and other Sikh prisoners lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh closer to Punjab as their families have found it difficult to meet them.
Singh was arrested in April 2023 after a 37-day hunt amid a crackdown on his Waris Punjab De. The crackdown was launched after his supporters stormed a police station near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested associate.
State BJP chief Sunil Jakhar said the decision to contest on its own in Punjab was taken keeping in mind the region’s future, especially that of youngsters and farmers, after consulting the people, local leaders, and workers at the grassroots level. “The party would not forge any alliance in Punjab,” said Jakhar in a video posted on social media.
He said the BJP’s work under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not hidden from anyone. Jakhar said the BJP would continue to take its agenda for public welfare forward.
Party sources said the BJP’s talks with SAD broke down as the former failed to ensure an unconditional alliance. SAD’s demands included the withdrawal of cases against farmers lodged during the 13-month-long protests in 2020-2021 against the three agricultural reform laws.
SAD exited NDA after the Parliament in 2020 approved the three contentious farm bills days after the party’s lone minister in the Union government resigned over what the party said were “anti-farmer” laws. The SAD and the BJP first allied in 1996.
Ahead of the April-June Lok Sabha polls, SAD sought assurances on minimum support prices for cotton, maize, sugarcane, and moong along with wheat and paddy. It pressed for compensation as promised to those killed and injured in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri in October 2021.
Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni’s son, Ashish Mishra, is the key accused in the mowing of four protesting farmers at Lakhimpur Kheri. SAD also sought the release of Sikh prisoners, particularly Balwant Singh Rajoana, who has been on death row since his conviction for role in the killing of the then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in August 1995.
The Akalis wanted the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which manages gurdwaras, to be consulted on all issues related to Sikhs and a referendum in Haryana on the issue of a separate management committee for Sikh shrines in the state.
The BJP, which contested three seats in Punjab in 2019, wanted more seats than the four Akalis were willing to offer. The Akalis also sought the opening of the Wagah border with Pakistan for trade.
The state’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress are also contesting separately in Punjab even as they are part of the Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance in neighbouring Haryana, Delhi, and Gujarat. The Congress swept the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab in 2019, winning eight of the 13 seats while SAD and BJP got two each and AAP one.
(Manas Dasgupta)
