NEW DELHI: Union minister and BJP leader Hardeep Singh Puri said on Saturday that the party would either contest the upcoming Punjab assembly elections without an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) or seek an equal seat-sharing arrangement if the two parties join hands.“The earlier 22-seat formula will no longer work. The BJP will not play the role of a junior partner,” he told reporters in Amritsar, referring to the previous arrangement under which the BJP contested 22-23 of Punjab’s 117 Assembly seats, while the SAD contested the remaining seats.
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A meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal in August had sparked speculation that the two parties could renew their union. The SAD ended its alliance with the BJP in 2020 in protest against the Centre’s contentious farm laws, which were subsequently repealed.Meanwhile, Puri also asserted that the BJP would leave “no stone unturned” to eradicate the drug menace in Punjab. He said the BJP-led government at the Centre was working on a “war footing” to create employment opportunities for unemployed youth in the state.Taking aim at the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Puri claimed that Punjab had reached a “bad situation” under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s government, alleging “misrule” in the state.“People are feeling insecure. The police, whose job is to protect the public, are themselves feeling insecure,” the Union minister added.(With PTI inputs)
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