With the countdown for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 having begun after the announcement of its schedule, Prime Minister Modi's push for 'Abki Baar 400 paar' is facing tough times in Punjab. The Modi government in its second tenure witnessed two major farmers' protests and due to this, their age-old alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) broke apart in Punjab. As a result, the BJP faced a massive defeat in the Punjab State Elections and the AAP registered a historic & record-breaking victory. SAD broke away from the NDA supporting the farmers demands to repeal the three newly passed farm laws. After a long farmers protest, the Centre bowed down to farmers' demands and repealed the three newly passed farm laws. This step by the Modi Government opened the doors for the BJP to sit at the table with SAD leaders and reconsider their alliance. While Lok Sabha Elections 2024 schedule has been announced, the BJP and SAD are yet to announce their candidates who will the polls in Punjab.
It is said that the alliance between SAD & BJP is still on the cards for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 and this is the reason why both the parties are yet to announce their candidates. Interestingly, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has called a crucial meeting of its core committee on March 22 to discuss strategy for the Lok Sabha elections even as the party and its former ally BJP have been playing a waiting game on the possibility of a tie-up. As per sources, the SAD core committee is likely to discuss its possible alliance with the BJP.
Sources revealed that many of the SAD leaders favor a tie-up with the BJP to fight the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The leaders include Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, and Sukhdev Singh of SAD. However, SAD Chief Sukhbir Badal is not in favour of doing an alliance based on seat sharing. As per sources, Sukhbir Badal has laid down a few conditions to the BJP that include the issues of farmers, releasing the detained Sikhs, issues of minorities, etc. Only if the BJP gives assurance to accept these demands, then only Sukhbir Badal is likely to give the go-ahead to the BJP-SAD alliance in Punjab. However, with the model code of conduct in place, the Modi Government cannot take any formal decisions. It means the BJP has to form their manifesto in such a way that it impresses the SAD.
Furthermore, sources in the known development suggest that the BJP has demanded 5 seats for Lok Sabha Elections- Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Patiala, and Ludhiana. From Patala, BJP is mulling to field former Punjab CM Captain Amarinder.
Why alliance with SAD is important for the BJP?
As mentioned above, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a clarion call of 'Abki Baar 400 Par', meaning the BJP-led NDA alliance has set a target of winning more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha Polls 2024. Opposition like Congress and AAP enjoys massive support in Punjab. As a result, the BJP has decided to hold the hands of SAD it the party also enjoys major support from the voters. During the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Punjab witnessed 27.45% for SAD and 9.63% for BJP. Together they formed 37.08% vote share. Although they were still behind the Congress in Punjab with more than 40 percent vote share, the NDA alliance still managed to dominate in Punjab courtesy of SAD.
During the 2022 Punjab Assembly Election, the SAD and the BJP contested the poll separately. SAD's vote percentage was 18.38% on the other hand, BJP's vote percentage was 6.60%. Notably, AAP emerged out to be on top followed by Congress. However,if the SAD and BJP had joined hands, their vote percentage would have increased.