Punjab Elections: BJP, Captain’s Party and Dhindsa’s SAD will have a common manifesto India News – Times of India

New Delhi: The BJP is likely to play a senior ally in Punjab in alliance with Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s SAD (United), and is unlikely to present any chief ministerial face for the alliance. . Elections, sources said on Monday.
Former Punjab CM Singh and former Union minister Dhindsa met the top BJP leadership, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda, in New Delhi on Monday. After the meeting at Shah’s residence, BJP’s Punjab in-charge Gajendra Shekhawat formally announced that the three parties would contest the elections and would come up with a common manifesto. Shekhawat said a joint committee consisting of two leaders from each party would be formed to finalize the seat-sharing agreement and vision document.
Asked about the alliance’s chief ministerial face, Shekhawat said the election would be fought “under the collective leadership of the alliance”.
“BJP usually fights elections in the name of PM Modi,” he said, adding that the party does not present any face for the chief minister’s post. He also underlined that the seat-sharing agreement would not be based on the party’s previous alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab. “The BJP is a national party which has won two Lok Sabha elections back to back and its base has spread across the country, so the alliance in Punjab will not be based on the seat distribution formula of its previous alliance with the Akali Dal in Punjab.” Shekhawat said.
The minister also said that the vision document will focus on all pending issues of Punjab. Party sources said the BJP will play the role of a senior ally in the border state and may contest more than half of the 117 seats.
BJP leaders expressed confidence that in Punjab, apart from Congress, SAD and AAP, a pentagonal fight in the election of various farmers’ organizations would work in its favour. Singh formed his own party, the Punjab Lok Congress, a few days after resigning as chief minister and leaving the Congress.