Alliance with Akali Dal in Punjab cost BJP heavily: Hardeep Puri
Darpan News Desk IANS, 11 Jan, 2022 11:56 AM
New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that he "personally" feels that alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab had cost the BJP heavily.
Puri, the BJP election co-incharge for Punjab, said: "It is my personal view that our alliance in the past had cost us heavily in many ways. Today with the people who are joining us, we will take Punjab on a fast path of development."
He said that earlier in the 117-member Punjab Assembly, the BJP used to contest 22-23 seats and won three seats in last Assembly polls but now the party has left with just two MLA and five per cent vote share.
He claimed that a new political situation is developing in Punjab and in this, with new alliance partners and people joining the party, the BJP will go up and up.
"When we were in alliance, the BJP never contested more than 22-23 seats and Alkalis were in dominant position. The BJP was not able to rise in the state. This time we formed an alliance with Captain Amarinder Singh, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and people are joining us. Now we are equal partners and it is a good opportunity for us to rise in Punjab. In the five corner contest, BJP will have a good show in Punjab," he said as a few leaders from Punjab joined the BJP at the party headquarters here.
The BJP is jointly contesting the Punjab assembly election with former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa's Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt). The three parties have formed a six-member committee, comprising two each from three parties to decide the seat sharing formula. Three parties will also make a common manifesto. Polling in Punjab will be held on February 14 and counting of votes will take place on March 10.
Taking a dig at Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Puri said: "The time he (Yadav) took to conduct the trial run of Kanpur Metro, our government has run the metro. Uttar Pradesh is number one in implementing all the Central government schemes. There is a saying 'success has many father', and Akhilesh is trying to take credit for our work."
The minister and his son are accused in the October 3 incident in which nine persons, including four farmers, were mowed down by SUVs. The minister's son Ashish Mishra has already been arrested.
It's likely that Sidhu will put forth the list of demands in the Punjab government as he is upset with the appointments in the government. He has resigned from the post of state president, but it has not been accepted yet by Sonia Gandhi. The meeting gains significance as it comes ahead of the CWC meeting.
The civil secretariat houses the top offices of the government, including those of the Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha and his advisors. Police tried to intervene to restrain the mourners from carrying out the sit-in outside the civil secretariat.
"My son will go to the police tomorrow and assist the probe. He has not escaped anywhere," Mishra said on his arrival in Lucknow. He said that his son was very much in their house in Lakhimpur.
Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday proceeded on indefinite fast in support of his demand for action against Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra and main accused in Sunday's violence in which nine persons, including four farmers, were killed.
Following a tipoff, the DRI sleuths swooped on the port on October 4 and detected the huge narcotics contraband, valued at Rs 125 crore, among boxes of a cooking oil container arriving from Iran and are now probing the possibility of a bigger drug smuggling racket with international ramifications for India and other countries.
