A four-way electoral contest is in the offing for Punjab’s 13 Lok Sabha seats as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) indicated on Tuesday that negotiations with its former ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), for the revival of their alliance in the border state, have failed.
Punjab is scheduled for polling on June 1, marking the seventh and final phase of the General Elections.
The SAD-BJP alliance could have been potent with the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government facing significant anti-incumbency. The Congress is also in disarray. Earlier this month, its Patiala MP Preneet Kaur joined the BJP. On Tuesday, its Ludhiana MP, Ravneet Singh Bittu, joined the BJP.
According to psephologist Pramod Kumar, who heads Chandigarh-based think tank Institute for Development and Communication, the breakdown of the seat-sharing talks between the BJP and SAD has opened up Punjab’s electoral fray to the advantage of the Congress, the principal opposition party in the state. And it is welcome news for AAP. Congress and AAP have agreed to share seats in Delhi, Gujarat, and Haryana but will fight against each other in Punjab.
“An ‘unconditional alliance’ with the BJP would have been detrimental for the Akalis. They would have lost face in Punjab. Their decision to go alone will help them in the long run,” Kumar told Business Standard. The SAD, out of power since 2017 and pushed to number three, has its eyes fixated on the 2027 Assembly polls.
Widening rift
From 1996 to 2020, the Akalis subscribed to former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s approach of providing ‘unconditional support’ to the BJP. It lasted until September 2020, when the Akalis exited the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after the farmers’ protests over the Centre’s three farm bills.
In the multi-cornered contest in the March 2022 Assembly polls, the SAD performed poorly, winning only three of 117 seats, and its ally, the Bahujan Samaj Party won one seat. The BJP, which had an alliance with the Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Lok Congress, could win two seats, while the Congress emerged as the principal opposition party.
By 2027, the SAD would have been out of power in Punjab for a decade, having lost it to the Congress in 2017 and pushed to a poor number three in 2022 when AAP swept the polls.
On Tuesday morning, BJP state unit chief Sunil Jakhar posted his video message on ‘X’, stating that the BJP will contest alone in Punjab. Jakhar emphasised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s work for farmers, such as procuring grains at minimum support price. He said the Kartarpur corridor was opened during the BJP government’s tenure at the Centre.
‘Principles above politics’
Later, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said that for his party, “principles are more important than the numbers game”, unlike some national parties. On Friday, the SAD had passed a resolution at its core committee meeting, which said the party would “continue to put principles above politics”. It urged the Centre to honour its “categorical written commitment” for the release of Bandi Singh (Sikh prisoners) who have served their prison terms and reiterated its commitment to fight for the rights of farmers and farm labourers.
The SAD and BJP have contested elections together since 1996. In 2019, the alliance of the SAD and BJP won two Lok Sabha seats each. The Congress won eight and AAP one seat of the 13. For the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP was renegotiating its earlier arrangement with the SAD, demanding that it should get to contest six seats instead of the three that it has traditionally.
In a related development, three-term Congress MP from Punjab Ravneet Singh Bittu joined the BJP in the national capital on Tuesday. Bittu is the grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh and currently represents the Ludhiana seat. The BJP’s Punjab state unit has several former Congress leaders in its ranks, including former CM Amarinder Singh, his wife Preeneet Kaur, and former state finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, which gives it the confidence to contest on all 13 seats. However, the BJP has primarily been an urban party in the state, lacking a statewide electoral footprint.
First Published: Mar 26 2024 | 9:19 PM IST
