Will BJP & SAD ally again? Netas keep options open

CHANDIGARH: BJP has neither accepted nor denied the possibility of a post-poll alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab, preferring instead to wait it out till the election results are out on March 10. The two parties ended their almost 24-year al-liance after SAD walked out over three contentious farm laws that kept the state on the brink for over a year.

“Let the public mandate come first. I am not saying yes or no to any possibility,” BJP national general secretary

Tarun Chugh

said on Sunday. He was reacting to a statement purportedly made by Bikram Singh

Majithia

, the SAD legis- lator and candidate for Amritsar East constituency.

A media organisation quoted Majithia as saying that SAD will decide on forming an alliance with BJP after the poll results are out. Majithia later said he was misquoted. “Our alliance is with BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) only,” he said. Speculation about a possible BJP-SAD tie-up has been doing the rounds lately, with people citing PM Modi sparing the SAD first family (former CM Parkash Singh Badal and his son and party chief CM Sukhbir Singh Badal) in his speeches during his extensive campaign in the state before Sunday’s vote. He also called SAD patriarch Parkash

Singh Badal

after he tested positive for Covid in January.