SAD, BSP form alliance for 2022 Punjab Assembly polls

Chandigarh, June 12: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) formed an alliance on Saturday for the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, coming together after a gap of 25 years.

Under the tie-up, the BSP will fight 20 of the 117 Assembly seats while the rest will be contested by the SAD, said Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal here. The SAD earlier had a tie-up with the BJP and the Badal-led party walked out of the NDA over the farm laws issue last year.

BSP chief Mayawati dubbed the alliance as a “new political and social initiative” which will usher in progress and prosperity in Punjab. Former CM Parkash Singh Badal described it as “the beginning of a secular, federal democratic revolution for a total socio-economic and political revamp of polity”.

Punjab has 31.94 per cent Dalit population, mainly concentrated in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Kapurthala districts. The state has the highest percentage of Scheduled Castes population in the country.

The BSP has a considerable hold over Dalits in the Doaba belt. Punjab is the birthplace of the party’s founder Kashi Ram, who belonged to Rupnagar district. The BSP was demanding more seats but the SAD managed to convince it with 20 seats, sources said.

The SAD had announced that it would appoint a Dalit as deputy chief minister if voted to power.

At a joint press conference with BSP's general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, Sukhbir Badal said, “Today is a new day in Punjab's politics, a historic day...a day of big turn in Punjab’s politics.”

The BSP will contest seven seats in Malwa, five in Majha and eight in Doaba regions of Punjab, said Badal, adding that the two parties will soon form a coordination committee to jointly chalk out various programmes ahead of the polls.

The seats which the BSP will contest are Kartarpur Sahib, Jalandhar-West, Jalandhar-North, Phagwara, Hoshiarpur, Tanda, Dasuya, Chamkaur Sahib, Bassi Pathana, Mehal Kalan, Nawanshahr, Ludhiana North, Sujanpur, Bhoa, Pathankot, Mohali, Amritsar North, Amritsar Central, Payal and Anandpur Sahib.

Both leaders claimed that the alliance will “sweep” the 2022 polls and oust the “non-performing” Congress from power.

About the new alliance, Mishra said, “Today is a historic day. The BSP, which is a national party, has entered into an alliance with Punjab's strongest party SAD... This alliance will continue forever now.”

This tie-up has been revived after two parties were together 25 years ago, said Badal and Mishra.

“Each BSP worker supports and welcomes this alliance. The SAD and the BSP are pro-farmer parties, who have worked for uplift of the Dalits, labourers and weaker sections,” Mishra said.

Sukhbir Badal said he wants to thank Mayawati for playing “an instrumental role in stitching this alliance”.

“The two parties share similar ideologies as both have always fought to uphold the rights of poor, Dalits and weaker sections,” Badal said. Later, during an interaction with the media, the former Punjab deputy CM said the BJP will not be able to open its account in the Assembly elections. —