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New Delhi: On Tuesday, BJP Punjab state president Sunil Jakhar said that the party would contest the Lok Sabha election alone and would not form an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Earlier there were reports that the BJP may forge an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
Lok Sabha elections will be held in a single phase in Punjab on June 1. Votes will be counted on June 4. Last week, sources said the SAD and the BJP may form a pre-poll pact if both parties reach a consensus on seat-sharing in the state.
In a post on X, Jakhar said, “This decision was taken based on the opinion of the people and party workers in the state. The decision was taken keeping in mind the welfare of farmers and businessmen,” Polling for 13 seats in Punjab will be held on June 1.
The BJP is facing protests from farmers who are demanding legal MSP for their agricultural produce. On this, Jakhar said that every grain was purchased at MSP and the money reached the farmers’ accounts within a few weeks.
The Punjab BJP chief further said,”The Kartarpur corridor, for which people have been requesting for decades, was also made possible under PM Modi because of the blessings of Waheguru”. SAD, which was a former alliance partner of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had walked out of the alliance in 2020 in protest over the now-scrapped farm laws. The Kartarpur Corridor facilitates visa-free ‘darshan’ of the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, which is in Pakistan across the border.
In the Sikh prayer ‘ardaas’, prayers are offered for “khule (open) darshan” of gurdwaras from which followers of Sikhism have parted ways.The Shiromani Akali Dal was one of the oldest allies of the BJP. However, the SAD broke ties with the NDA in September 2020 over the now-repealed farm laws, leading to widespread protests in north India. The SAD and the BJP contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election together but were unable to secure the desired result.
