Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Friday, discussing the situation of law and order, and the functioning of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab where assembly elections are slated early next year.
Neither Badal, nor the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has issued a statement, but the meeting has triggered fresh speculations that the Akali Dal could once again enter into an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and rejoin the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Akali Dal and the BJP were long-time allies, but they parted ways in September 2020 amid differences over the three contentious farm laws, which were repelled by the Centre later. They have contested six Lok Sabha (1998, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019) and five Punjab assembly elections (1997, 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017) together.
In the 2022 Punjab elections, which they contested separately, the Akali Dal suffered its worst-ever electoral performance, winning just three seats. The BJP, on the other hand, won just two seats.
In the 2017 Punjab elections, when the two were partners, the Akali Dal won 15 seats and the BJP bagged three constituencies.
But lately, reports have kept emerging that the parties could rejoin hands again. Speculations were also rife about an alliance between them for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but it did not materialise. Later, the Akali Dal won just won one seat in Punjab, while the saffron party failed to open its account in the state.
In July, PM Modi addressed a rally in Jalandhar, where he slammed the AAP, the Congress and the Akali Dal, but Badal defended him and said the prime minister did not speak against his party, but another Akali faction, which left political observing pondering that the former partners are interested in an alliance. According to Badal, PM Modi spoke against SAD (Punar Surjit), which is a breakaway faction of the Akali Dali.
Assembly elections will take place in Punjab early next, along with those in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. The previous elections in 2022 were swept by the AAP, which registered a historic victory and won 92 seats of the 117 constituencies. Meanwhile, the Congress won just 18 seats.
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