Senior BJP leader and former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s remark that the BJP cannot win the 2027 state Assembly polls “on its own” and “will need the Akalis” seems to have stirred up state politics.
Speaking on an India Today podcast Sunday, Amarinder said, “There is no other way to form the government than by having an alliance with the Akali Dal.”
This is not the first time Singh has endorsed the idea of a renewed partnership between the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP. In February 2024, he publicly said that such an alliance “would benefit both the parties”, signalling his consistent view that their old coalition model would remain the “most viable route” for the BJP in Punjab.
Amarinder’s latest statement assumes greater significance as it comes from a leader who was reportedly engaged in back-channel talks with the SAD ahead of last year’s Lok Sabha elections.
“I had met (SAD chief) Sukhbir Singh Badal before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and held detailed discussions with him. He initially agreed to give the BJP five (of the state’s 13 seats) but later reduced the offer to three. Hence, the talks never materialised. We could have won at least six to seven seats had we contested together,” Amarinder said.
After the SAD walked out of the BJP-led NDA in 2020 over the now-repealed farm laws, the two ex-allies contested elections separately. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the SAD won just one seat while the BJP drew a blank.
The former CM also emphasised the “importance” of the alliance, saying Punjab could have a stronger representation in Parliament if the BJP-SAD tie-up had been revived.
Despite state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar voicing support for a tie-up with the SAD on several occasions, the BJP was quick to stress that Amarinder was not speaking on the party’s behalf. “He is a senior leader and I duly respect him, but whatever he said were his personal comments. The BJP is preparing to contest all 117 Assembly seats in the state,” Punjab BJP working president Ashwani Sharma said, adding that people are keen on bringing the BJP to power to tackle issues like drugs, crop MSP, and law and order.
However, sources in the BJP said Amarinder’s assessment is not entirely misplaced. “The BJP’s debacles in successive bypolls are indications that we can perform better in an alliance,” a senior party leader said.
The BJP first joined hands with the SAD in 1996 and contested five Assembly polls (in 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017) in alliance, which clinched three of them (in 1997, 2007 and 2012).
Amarinder, then with the Congress, became the CM following the BJP-SAD combine’s defeat in 2002 and 2017. He quit the Congress in 2022 and floated the Punjab Lok Congress, which fought the Assembly polls that year in alliance with the BJP and subsequently merged his party with the BJP.
The SAD’s response to his remarks was more layered, with party spokesperson Daljeet Singh Cheema saying there was no “formal proposal” from the BJP, and that any such proposal would be discussed within the party.
However, the SAD’s lone MP from Bathinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, while unsparing in her criticism of the BJP, was seen to have left a small window open for their possible tie-up. Slamming the BJP for its “conduct and repeated anti-Punjab stances” over the years, she said, “We neither want to break or join any alliance for political convenience. We are committed to safeguarding Punjab’s interests. The BJP has no base in Punjab and cannot come to power in the state for the next 100 years. The people do not trust them, especially after their anti-Punjab moves like the introduction of the farm laws, move to trim the Panjab University’s Senate and proposal to make Chandigarh a Union Territory.”
However, calling her views “personal”, Harsimrat said the SAD can ally with the BJP if “they give Chandigarh to Punjab”. “The decision on a formal alliance rests with the party leadership and the final call will be taken by the party president,” she added. Chandigarh is currently the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana.
On expected lines, Amarinder’s remarks drew sharp reactions from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the principal Opposition Congress. “The people of Punjab have rejected these (BJP and SAD) parties. Their politics of manipulation brings neither power nor trust. It only brings political bankruptcy,” AAP spokesperson Neel Garg said.
Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring outright dismissed the possibility of a BJP-SAD alliance. “The BJP does not have any future, with or without allies. It has completely alienated and antagonised Punjabis with its anti-Punjab policies. Even if they align, it will not make a difference as zero plus zero equals zero,” he claimed.