'Routine Meeting': Sukhbir Badal On Buzz About SAD Reuniting With BJP

Amid speculation that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could reunite with the BJP, party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said he just held a routine meeting with the saffron party.

The party has been a close aide of the BJP in Punjab and has fought many elections together in the state.

Source : PTI

Refuting seculation about the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) reuniting with the BJP, party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said a routine meeting was held with the saffron party and there is no question of a reunion. He said, “We have an alliance with BSP, so how is this question even arising? This is our routine meeting. I have come after a month so we are having a routine meeting...We held the meeting to discuss VAT increase and water issues,” said Badal.

A report by PTI said that he had called his party’s district presidents to discuss the Bhagwant Mann government’s “non-performance” on various fronts and its “interference” in gurdwara matters in today's meeting. Speaking about the SAD-BJP alliance, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said that both parties had never truly parted ways.

#WATCH | Chandigarh | We have an alliance with BSP, so how is this question even arising. This is our routine meeting. I have come after a month so we are having a routine meeting...We held the meeting to discuss VAT increase and water issues...: President of Shiromani Akali Dal,… pic.twitter.com/R953CpRloQ

— ANI (@ANI) July 6, 2023

The party has been a close aide of the BJP in Punjab and has fought many elections together in the state. The alliance was severed during the farmers' movement (2020-21) and both parties contested the Jalandhar by-election separately and faced losses. According to media reports on Wednesday, Badal met senior BJP party leaders at his residence in Chandigarh.

Rajnath Singh in his June 24 rally in Chandigarh said, "I want to say that we respect those a lot who come into the NDA fold… But I can say that if somebody leaves the NDA and even maintains distance we do not remove them from our hearts. This is the nature of the BJP.”