BJP and Akali Dal in seat-sharing talks for 2027 Punjab polls, says reports

The BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal are negotiating a seat-sharing arrangement for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections amid speculation that the former allies may reunite, news agency Press Trust of India reported on Saturday, citing sources.A formal announcement on the alliance is expected this month after the seats are finalised, according to sources in both parties. Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil, who is also the BJP's Punjab election in-charge, is expected to visit Punjab on November 17 and meet state party leaders in Chandigarh.Patil's visit is significant as discussions about a possible reunion between the two parties gather momentum. Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi a few days ago and is learnt to have discussed state issues, including drug abuse, sources told PTI.The SAD ended its 24-year alliance with the BJP in September 2020 over the three farm laws, which were later repealed. Before the split, Lok Sabha MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal was a Cabinet minister in the Modi government. Senior Punjab BJP leader Harjit Singh Grewal said on Saturday that the party's central leadership would decide on any alliance. Grewal, who is the Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, said ordinary people and some BJP leaders who had joined from other political parties believed that an alliance could help win the elections.“But BJP's core team, comprising workers who have been working for the last 40-50 years, does not want an alliance,” Grewal told reporters, according to PTI. He said both views were being discussed within the party. “I believe that governments come and go. But the ideology of nationalism must certainly thrive in Punjab,” Grewal said.Union Home Minister Amit Shah had predicted an NDA government in Punjab in 2027 during an event in Delhi last month. During his visit to Chandigarh on November 1, he again said that an NDA government would be formed in the border state, renewing speculation about a possible SAD-BJP alliance.Asked on November 2 about the possibility of the two parties reuniting, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal gave a guarded response. “You will come to know in a few days as to what will happen,” he said.Badal reiterated that the SAD was open to an alliance with parties that accepted its philosophy, except the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. Punjab BJP leaders, however, have maintained that the party is preparing to contest all 117 Assembly seats.Speculation about a reunion had also emerged in August after Badal met Modi at the Prime Minister's office in Parliament House.In the 2022 Assembly elections, the BJP won two seats while the SAD won three of the 117 constituencies. Under their previous seat-sharing arrangement, the SAD contested 94 Assembly seats and the BJP 23. In Lok Sabha elections, the SAD contested 10 seats and the BJP three.BJP leaders have indicated that the party is no longer willing to be the junior partner in an alliance. With the Punjab Assembly elections due in early 2027, talks on seat-sharing are continuing and the parties' central leadership is expected to take the final decision.- Ends(With PTI inputs)