As the Opposition parties are attempting to stand united against the saffron brigade, the ruling BJP is leaving no chance to hold on to its allies to prevent divided-we-fall syndrome.
As a part of the same strategy, BJP national president Amit Shah is all set to visit Chandigarh on June 7, Thursday, to hold detailed meeting with its age-old ally in Punjab — Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) — ahead 2019 lok Sabha polls.
Shah is scheduled to meet the SAD president Sukhbir Badal and other party leaders in its Sector-28 head-office, followed by joint meeting of the SAD-BJP leaders.
“BJP chief has recently launched the ‘Sampark for Samarthan’ programme to reach out to the people to create awareness about the programmes launched by the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His visit to the state is a part of the same,” a senior BJP leader told The Pioneer.
The leader said that the Government has initiated various schemes and programmes and the people should be made aware of the same.
Shah’s Punjab meeting comes at a time when the BJP, at the national level, and also in the State has faced resounding defeat in the by-elections. In the results announced on May 31, BJP could won just two seats out of the total 14 by-polls held across many States, bringing its total tally in the lok Sabha to 274 — just above the absolute majority.
In Punjab, SAD lost its pocket borough Shahkot after over two decades. Shahkot Assembly by-poll loss came after the SAD-BJP coalition’s defeat in Gurdaspur lok Sabha bye-election the previous year, coupled with loss in municipal body elections.
Now with Punjab and Karnataka being the only major states in the country ruled by the Congress, the saffron party is taking extra care to ensure the party and its ally do well in the ensuing elections.
Alarmed by its downward journey at the time when the 2019 elections are just a few months away, the BJP is actually mending the fences.
At the time when BJP swept the 2014 elections riding high on the Modi wave across the nation, speculations were that the BJP may part ways with its ally SAD in Punjab, because of which it has suffered in the elections in the state. Many of the SAD leaders have been facing allegations of drugs, that went against the coalition in 2014 elections.
After the BJP formed the government on its own in the neighboring Haryana for the first time, the speculations seems to be taking the shape of reality. Many of the state leaders started talking about contesting 2017 state polls alone. However, the allies contested the polls together and finished at poor third spot, loosing even the place of being the main opposition party.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has stunned the political players in Punjab in 2017 polls by bagging four seats braving the strong Modi wave, is another threat for the BJP other than the ruling Congress in the state.
Even as the AAP is a divided house, it is making efforts to rebuild itself ahead the crucial elections.
Senior SAD leader and former Minister Daljit Singh Cheema said that the meeting would focus on the 2019 elections mainly, devising strategies, and other things.
“The meeting would focus on the plus points and the negatives in this four-year period of the BJP’s Central Government. The combine has lost one election after another here, and reasons for the same would be discussed. How to recuperate the party cadre, what things need to be focused on…it all will be discussed in the meeting,” said a senior SAD leader.