‘A border state’: Akali leader fuels buzz over SAD-BJP reunion, gives this reason

BJP-SAD alliance buzz has grown ahead of next year’s assembly polls.

NEW DELHI: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Friday said that people in Punjab want his party to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party for the upcoming polls.Majithia cited Punjab’s status as a border state and the need to protect social harmony and the state’s social fabric as reasons for public sentiment favouring a reunion.“We should understand that the Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP have worked together. Vajpayee ji and Badal ji strengthened this alliance, and it continued during Modi ji’s time,” Majithia said.The SAD and BJP had been allies for several decades and contested multiple Assembly and Lok Sabha elections together before their relationship broke down over the Centre’s farm laws.

The SAD withdrew from the BJP-led NDA in 2020 in protest against the farm legislation, bringing an end to the alliance in Punjab.“We had gone our separate ways over the farm laws. But considering Punjab’s situation as a border state, social harmony and the social fabric, people want the two parties to come together,” Majithia said.However, he made it clear that no decision had been taken on a possible alliance and that the final call would rest with the leadership of both parties.“Whether they will come together will be decided by the BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal leadership. Harsimrat Badal has expressed the people’s sentiments. What the outcome will be, only time will tell,” he said.His remarks come amid growing political discussion in Punjab over the possibility of a realignment between the SAD and BJP ahead of the next assembly election.