BJP, Shiromani Akali Dal to Reunite for 2024 Polls

New Delhi: In a significant political development, erstwhile NDA allies -- the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are set to come together for the 2024 general elections. According to sources, the BJP and Akali Dal are negotiating a seat-sharing formula in Punjab. The Akali Dal had walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2020 over the contentious three farm laws introduced by the Modi government, which were scrapped a year later.

Realising that it is necessary to join hands to counter the Opposition and win more seats in the state in next year's Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has started talks to join hands with one of its oldest allies -- the SAD in Punjab. Currently, the BJP has two Lok Sabha members from Punjab -- Sunny Deol from Gurdaspur and Union minister of state for commerce and industry Som Prakash from Hoshiarpur.

A BJP insider told this newspaper that talks over joining hands for the 2024 general election with the SAD are going on. "Negotiations over the seat sharing formula are underway and we are hopeful that old friends will once again come together for the development and prosperity of Punjab," he said.

The BJP sources said that the former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Sunil Kumar Jakhar are leading the talks with the SAD for the parliamentary polls.

"Mr Singh and Mr Jakhar are leading talks and our initial offer is that the SAD will contest in eight and the BJP in five Lok Sabha constituencies," the BJP leader said.

Both the SAD and the BJP, which ruled the state in alliance in the past but failed to make a strong political presence in the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls after parting ways. Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP won 97 of the 117 Assembly seats and formed a government in Punjab led by Bhagwant Mann. The SAD won 15 seats and the BJP won only two seats. In 2017, while in alliance with the SAD, the saffron party had won three Assembly seats in Punjab.  

It has been learnt that some sections of both parties feel that old partners must come together. Recently, the BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, visited Badal village to pay tribute to SAD patriarch and former chief minister Prakash Singh Badal, who passed away in April.

"The visit of the Prime Minister, BJP chief J.P. Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah to Badal village shows that the warmth of old ties still exists between the BJP and the SAD. And we are hopeful of contesting the next election together," a BJP insider said.