WITH EYE ON 2022 PUNJAB POLLS, AKALI DAL, BSP FORM ALLIANCE
CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) formed an alliance on Saturday for the 2022 Punjab Assembly election, with SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal heralding the alliance as a “new day” in the politics of the state.
Announcing the alliance at a joint press conference with BSP’S general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, Badal said, “Today is a new day in Punjab’s politics, a historic day...a day of big turn in Punjab’s politics.” He said the SAD and the BSP will jointly fight the 2022 polls and future elections.
The BSP led by former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati will fight 20 of the 117 Assembly seats in Punjab, while the rest will be contested by the SAD, he said.
The leaders of the two outfits said that the alliance will “sweep” the 2022 polls and oust the “non-performing” Congress from power.
The SAD earlier was earlier in an alliance with the BJP before the Badal-led party walked out of the NDA over the contentious farm laws passed in Parliament last year.
“The alliance announced by SAD and BSP in Punjab today is a new political and social initiative, which will surely usher in a new era of much-awaited development, progress and prosperity of the people in the state. Hearty congratulations and best wishes to the people for this historic step,” said BSP supremo Mayawati in a tweet in Hindi.
Earlier, the SAD-BSP alliance had contested the 1996 Lok Sabha polls together and won 11 out of 13 seats in Punjab.