Chandigarh: After ensuring the merger of Nitish Kumar-led JDU and Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) into the NDA, the BJP is now eyeing a pact with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab.
Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar, while talking to the media on Friday, said that the public wants a BJP-SAD alliance, but the party is ready to contest elections on all 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
There is speculation that BJP national president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah may attend the first death anniversary of late Chief Minister and SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal on March 10. Jakhar also flagged off the ‘Vikit Bharat Modi ki Guarantee’ video van displaying the picture. of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nadda to collect suggestions from the people for the party’s “Sankalp Patra” (manifesto) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Two of the many vans equipped with LED screens will visit each of the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. A mobile number has also been marked on the van, on which people can register their suggestions through voice message or put them in a box. Asked whether the alliance between the BJP and SAD would benefit the saffron party, Jakhar said: “It is not about any party achieving anything, but about the state and its people. We are ready to contest elections on all 13 seats of Punjab, but the public wants a BJP-Akali alliance. Regional parties like Akali Dal play an important role in raising the demands of the local people.
On the important role of senior BJP leader and former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in forming an alliance between SAD and BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he said that the party high command will take the final decision on this.
On another question on how soon former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s wife and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur is expected to join the BJP, Jakhar said that joining the BJP will happen in Delhi.
Taking a dig at Congress and AAP, he said that both played a ‘friendly match’.
