The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on January 24 announced finalisation of its seat-sharing pact for the Punjab assembly elections with allies Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) and former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress (PLC).
As per the agreement, the BJP will field its candidates in 65 out of the 117 seats, whereas, the Captain's party will contest 37 constituencies, BJP president JP Nadda said in a press briefing. The remaining 15 assembly segments have been allotted to SAD (Sanyukt), he added.
Nadda, while announcing the seat-sharing pact, said national security is one of the primary concerns for their coalition. "Punjab needs special attention. Security is a very important issue. This election is for stability and safety. Our motto is to bring back Punjab on track," he said.
Amarinder Singh reiterated the point, noting that a state which shares a wide border with Pakistan needs a government that is sensitive towards security concerns.
Training guns at his rival and Congress state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, Singh claimed that when he led the state government, he received a request on behalf of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, seeking Sidhu's inclusion in the Punjab Cabinet.
#WATCH | Pakistan PM had sent a request if you can take (Congress Punjab president Navjot Singh) Sidhu into your Cabinet I will be grateful, he is an old friend of mine. You can remove him if he'll not work: Punjab Lok Congress president & former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh pic.twitter.com/88jSfIpfQ8Related stories
— ANI (@ANI) January 24, 2022
The BJP, which was in power in Punjab between 2007 and 2017 in alliance with the Badal family-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), lost its traditional ally in September 2020 following the passage of the central farm reform laws. The laws were scrapped in November last year following a year-long farmers' protest.
Amarinder Singh, who led the Congress to a three-fourth majority victory in the 2017 assembly polls, stepped down as the chief minister on September 18, following a bitter intraparty feud.
The 79-year-old Singh resigned from the Congress - the party with which he was associated for around three decades - in November and formed his own outfit, the PLC.
Singh and the BJP decided to join hands for the upcoming polls and made a formal announcement following the repeal of the Centre's controversial farm reform laws.
Notably, the 117 seats in Punjab will be contested in a single phase on February 14. The state primarily witnesses a four-cornered contest, among the ruling Congress, the prime opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) coalition, and the alliance between SAD and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
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