Murmurs of demanding more seats in coalition are turning into boisterous voices within the saffron party’s Punjab unit. Several Punjab BJP’s senior leaders are coming out in open to demand more or equal share of seats from its ally, SAD, during the next state assembly polls, due in 2022.
Punjab has 117 assembly seats and 13 Parliamentary seats. Of these, BJP contests on 23 assembly seats and just three Lok Sabha seats on the basis of 20:80 ratio.
However, with BJP gaining foothold, not only in the state but across the nation riding high on the Modi wave, the party leaders are demanding to either go alone in the next state assembly polls in 2022 just like it did in Haryana, or demand more share of seats.
Considering the series of decisions taken by the BJP-led Central Government in an apparent attempt to woo the Sikh community, it may not be an overstatement that BJP is exploring possibilities of contesting 2022 Punjab elections on its own.
BJP’s senior leader and former Minister Madan Mohan Mittal has maintained that SAD should give larger share of seats to the BJP. “Out of 117, BJP should be given 59 seats, and SAD should get 58 as BJP is the elder brother,” he said.