NEW DELHI: Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, fuelling buzz about the revival of the alliance between their parties in the sharply fragmented political space of Punjab as the state gears up for assembly elections next year.While the BJP brass has publicly maintained it will go solo, a prospect that has acquired seriousness as the party has expanded on the back of regional satraps joining it from different parties, a section of its state leadership has batted for renewing ties with the estranged ally due to its perceived political and social dividends.That PM Modi met Sukhbir suggests a rethink. SAD leadership is learnt to be keen on joining hands with BJP, more so as the regional party has been on a decline since AAP came to office in 2022. It has shrunk to three MLAs and an MP.What has likely raised the possibility of their alliance is the growing realisation that a division of votes among four parties, factionalism-hit Congress being the other party in reckoning, may help AAP despite the perceived anti-incumbency against the Bhagwant Mann-led government. Badal is believed to have raised the issue of “crumbling” law and order and “rampant” corruption in Punjab under the AAP government in his meeting with PM Modi.Besides, the entry of jailed MP Amritpal Singh-led Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De), which appeals to a radical section with pro-Khalistan impulses, has given Punjab politics another dimension in the run up to the polls and might have prompted the BJP to look afresh at its future course of action in the state. Even though the politics of their alliance makes much sense, what has been a sticking point is the likely dynamics of such a tie-up, people aware of the matter said.
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SAD under Sukhbir’s father and ex-Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal was the unquestioned big brother in the alliance, but the BJP wants a reset, citing growth in its vote share and decline in its former ally’s since they parted ways. In the 2024 LS polls, the BJP had received over 18% of the vote and the SAD less than 15%.
