Punjab: Amit Shah in huddle as spotlight turns on SAD

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, September 26: Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah on Tuesday took stock of the political situation of Punjab with senior party functionaries in Amritsar. Shah was in the city to chair the meeting of the 31^st meeting of the northern zonal council.

Shah’s meeting with the BJP functionaries was attended by the party chief in Punjab Sunil Jakhar, national general secretary Tarun Chugh, Shwet Malik, and others. Shah’s meeting with key functionaries came on a day when the Opposition block in Punjab was seen sparring as the state unit chief of the Congress Pratap Singh Bajwa claimed that his party would contest all the 13 Lok Sabha seats, besides asserting that 32 legislators of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were in contact with the main Opposition outfit in the Punjab Assembly.

With the BJP hunting for allies to bolster the strength of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year, Shah’s meeting with senior functionaries came in the backdrop of the growing buzz of the likelihood of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) joining the BJP-led alliance. The SAD had quit the NDA after parliament enacted three contentious far laws, which were later withdrawn following a year-long protest by the farmers on the outskirts of the national capital.

“The leadership of the party will take a call on the inclusion of the SAD in the NDA. Nothing is ruled out. But the terms of the alliance, if at all it takes place, will be different than the past, and factor in the strength of the BJP gained over the last few years, which had been displayed in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll,” said a senior BJP functionary.

The 2022 Punjab Assembly election had come as a shocker for the SAD, as the party was reduced to the margins of the state politics with the emergence of the AAP as the dominant player. The SAD is facing the heat of the losses in the state in the aftermath of leaving the NDA, said the BJP functionary, who added that the Punjab politics is undergoing a major change, which requires realignment of forces.

The BJP recently joined hands with the JD (S) in Karnataka to bolster the strength of the NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. But the BJP has also been jolted with the exit of the AIADMK from the NDA in Tamil Nadu.     

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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