JALANDHAR: Announcing that the party would contest
Lok Sabha elections
in Punjab on its own, state BJP president Sunil Jakhar said the decision was made after gathering feedback from party leaders and cadre. BJP has conveyed its unwillingness to accede to any conditions set forth by
Shiromani Akali Dal
(SAD), with which the party was seeking to renew its alliance, reported.
BJP and the Akalis have contested five assembly and six Lok Sabha elections together in the state since 1996.
BJP’s decision comes in the wake of a resolution passed by Shiromani Akali Dal during its core committee meeting on March 22, which outlined conditions for a potential alliance. One of the primary conditions was the fulfilment of the party’s promise made in Nov 2019 to release long-incarcerated Sikh prisoners, known as Bandi Singhs.
While the resolution issued by SAD did not explicitly mention “conditions” or “alliance”, its careful wording strongly implied such terms. The resolution underscored the importance of prioritising “principles over politics” and addressed several other pertinent issues.
With
Congress
and AAP, partners in INDIA bloc, also opting to contest separately, Punjab is set for a four-cornered
electoral battle
. Given the vote share from the 2022 assembly elections and parliamentary byelections in Sangrur and Jalandhar, BJP ranks as the fourth party in the state.
In previous elections, BJP contested seats such as Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar in alliance with SAD, winning the latter two in 2014 and 2019.
