Hardeep Puri rules out BJP-SAD alliance for 2024 Lok Sabha election

The Union Minister said the SAD has lost its credibility among voters in Punjab as shown in the recent Jalandhar by-election poll results and rejected the possibility of any alliance with the party.

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has ruled out the possibility of the BJP reviving its alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for the Lok Sabha polls next year.

The BJP remained in alliance with SAD for 25 years earlier but the SAD failed to come up to the expectations of the people of Punjab, Mr. Puri told reporters in Kapurthala on May 16.

The Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas said the SAD has lost its credibility among voters in Punjab as shown in the recent Jalandhar by-election poll results and rejected the possibility of any alliance with the party.

Mr. Puri, however, said that if "some good leaders from SAD or those who had in recent times left the Akali Dal want to join the BJP and fight on the saffron party symbol then that is a different thing".

The Shiromani Akai Dal, which has faced an electoral decline since 2014, broke ties with the BJP in 2020 over the now-repealed Cental farm laws.

Recently, BJP's Punjab affairs in-charge Vijay Rupani had also said there was no possibility of an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal again.

Mr. Puri was speaking at Rail Coach Factory (RCF) after presiding over a Rozgar mela function.