SAD, BJP to negotiate seat sharing tomorrow

Chandigarh, July 8 (UNI) The leaders of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and its ally BJP will meet tomorrow in Ludhiana to decide on seat sharing and the poll strategy for the Punjab Assembly elections due in February 2007.

The meeting is scheduled to be attended by central BJP leader and the incharge Punjab affairs Arun Jaitley, SAD president Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab BJP president Avinash Rai Khanna and other senior leaders of both the parties.

The BJP had contested 23 of the 117 assembly seats during the last state elections in 2002, winning only three seats. One seat was left in vain for the Bahujan Samaj Morcha, while the rest were contested by the main opposition Shiromani Akali Dal.

Besides the seat sharing issue, both the allies would also discuss the poll strategy including the issues to be raked up during the election campaign and the prospects of an alliance between the ruling Congress and the left parties, according to SAD sources.

Both the SAD and the BJP had already held a close-door meeting at Amritsar on July three on seat sharing issue.

UNI PS AT BST1745