SAD wants Sidhu to contest against Amarinder

Patiala, Sep 4 (UNI) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is ready to leave Patiala constituency for its alliance partner BJP if Navjot Singh Sidhu is fielded against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh during the coming Assembly elections.

SAD secretary general Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa told UNI that this proposal was discussed in a meeting on seat sharing arrangement for the assembly polls.

Besides Mr Dhindsa, others who attended the meeting included Sukhbir Singh, Sukhbir Singh Badal and Balwinder Singh Bhunder from SAD, while the BJP was represented by Arun Jaitley and the state level party leaders R P Singh and H S Grewal.

Mr Dhindsa said the BJP had demanded additional seats as against 23 seats it contested in the last elections, seeking more representation in other districts.

Mr Dhindsa has offered Patiala seat to BJP if they would field Navjot Singh Sidhu, MP from Amritsar, against Capt Singh.

He said that winnability chances will be looked in allotment of seats to the BJP. He said that SAD could afford only 15 seats to the BJP and if more were asked they would have to identify the seats with high probability of winning.

Meanwhile, SAD Patiala district chief Inder Mohan Singh Bajaj has welcomed this offer saying Mr Sidhu would win against the Chief Minister from Patiala.

UNI XC PS AK KN1745