With the 2024 General Elections coming soon, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has braced itself to bolster their 'weak link' where the saffron party may face a massive challenge in the polls. Talking about 'weak-link', the BJP has underperformed in the bordering state of Punjab and the Saffron party is trying its level best in order to win back the voters it lost mainly during the farmers' protest. Recently BJP failed to win the Jalandhar Lok Sabha Byelection despite the fact it appointed former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani to oversee the preparation and even bring positive results for the party which did not happen. Finally, BJP's senior leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed a gathering at Gurdaspur. However, Gurdaspur MP and Bollywood actor Sunny Deol was not present at the rally as his son recently got married and also he was busy in the promotion of his upcoming film Gadar 2. Ultimately, Amit Shah's rally in Gurdaspur turned out to be lackluster. Now, the question arises what the BJP should do in order to solve the puzzle of Punjab politics before the Lok Sabha Elections arrive? Well, let's understand what is happening inside the BJP camp below-
As per reports, Union Home Minister Amit Shah's Gurdaspur rally tanked as it could not woo the voters as only less than one thousand people arrived to attend it. Sources in the known development, even informed True Scoop News that the State BJP had first reached for four thousand chairs, however, after seeing a lack of interest, 3 thousand chairs were removed and ultimately Amit Shah addressed a gathering of approx 1000 people. Notably, even one thousand chairs were not totally filled by the people. With BJP losing its support in Punjab, sources informed True Scoop News that the saffron party is now contemplating to join Shiromani Akali Dal's hands once again.
Notably, SAD parted ways from the NDA after the Modi government passed three farm bills. After months of farmers' protest, the Modi Government had to repeal all three newly passed farm laws which was the ultimate cause of the breakup of SAD from the NDA. Now, with three farms laws are already repealed, the BJP and the SAD have no grudge against each other and therefore, contemplating joining forces might help both parties in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2024. It is pertinent to mention here that the opposition has been uniting to fight against the Modi government in the upcoming elections. In fact, al opposition had a meeting in Patna, Bihar which was called by the State's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Notably, BJP got a reality check when the AAP registered a historic win in Jalandhar Bylection 2023 surpassing Congress. While AAP and Congress emerged as the top two parties in terms of number of votes garnered, SAD and BJP were at third and the fourth place respectively. Now, if BJP and SAD had fought together, it could have performed better in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha Byelections 2023. With the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections on the cards, BJP has pulled up its socks and working out to retain constituencies like Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur. Although there is not much to lose for BJP in Punjab as it won had won 2 seats in the last General Elections, still the saffron party would not want that the Congress or AAP win 13 seats in Punjab.
Despite the fact that former Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh's party is in alliance with the BJP and former PPCC President Sunil Jakhar joining the saffron party, the ruling party of India is losing its support or moreover ground in Punjab. Now, the question arises why the BJP is not able to win back the trust of the people despite many veteran Congress leaders joining its hands. The answer is corruption allegations and the Vigilance Bureau investigation against many of their leaders. Former Health Minister Balbir Sidhu was recently summoned by the Vigilance Bureau. The Vigilance has also arrested Sundar Shyam Arora. Also, Punjab BJP General Secretary Gurpreet Singh Kangar is under the scanner of the Vigilance Bureau. As a result, the ongoing corruption investigation against the BJP leaders is denting the saffron party's efforts to resurrect in Punjab.