NEW DELHI: Union minister and BJP leader Hardeep Singh Puri said on Saturday the party would seek an equal seat-sharing agreement with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) if the two parties form an alliance for the upcoming Punjab assembly elections.“The earlier 22-seat formula will no longer work. The BJP will not play the role of a junior partner,” he told reporters in Amritsar, referring to the previous arrangement under which the BJP contested 22-23 of Punjab’s 117 assembly seats, while the SAD contested the remaining seats.A meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal in August had sparked speculation that the two former allies could renew their union. The SAD had ended its alliance with the BJP in 2020 in protest against the Centre’s contentious farm laws, which were subsequently repealed.
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Meanwhile, Puri also asserted that the BJP would leave “no stone unturned” to eradicate the drug menace in Punjab. He said the BJP-led government at the Centre was working on a “war footing” to create employment opportunities for unemployed youth in the state.Taking aim at the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Puri claimed that Punjab had reached a “bad situation” under chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s government, alleging “misrule” in the state.“People are feeling insecure. The police, whose job is to protect the public, are themselves feeling insecure,” the Union minister added.(With PTI inputs)
