Minister Hardeep Puri Rules Out BJP-Akali Dal Alliance For 2024 Lok Sabha Polls

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, Puri told reporters here on Tuesday.

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The Shiromani Akai Dal, which has faced an electoral decline since 2014, broke ties with the BJP in 2020 over the now-repealed central farm laws.

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

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

Hitting out at the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, the minister said that "freebies" would not help the state boost its economy as it is already under heavy debt.

On the debacle of BJP in the recently concluded assembly election in Karnataka, the minister noted that while the party's vote share has not come down from 36 percent, it lost polls due to "some other reasons and would introspect" and rectify its mistakes.

The ministers gave away 210 appointment letters to the youths in the central government departments and also lauded the central government's achievements.

RCF General Manager Ashesh Agrawal was among those present on the occasion.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)