Lok Sabha Election 2024: BJP To Contest Alone In Punjab After 28 Years Amidst Farmer Protests

Amidst the farmers' protest, the BJP will go to polls alone in Punjab after 28 years. The decision was taken after its former alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) announced to leave the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). It was expected that SAD may join hands with BJP again ahead of the elections, but it did not happen.

Since 1996, it will be the first occasion when BJP will contest alone in Punjab and is allegedly facing opposition from farmers. There are reports of difficulties in campaigning, especially in rural areas. It has become a big challenge for the party to convey its message to the voters impartially.

Punjab BJP trusts its candidates. In an interview with Indian Express, Punjab BJP state president Sunil Jakhar admitted this challenge. According to him, in a short time, BJP has established its presence in Punjab. People have started understanding the environment created by anti-BJP parties.

However, he is confident that his candidates are reliable and successful in conveying the party's message to the voters. About the protests faced by BJP candidates during the campaign, he says that these protests are largely scripted.

Sunil Jakhar claims that people from AAP and Congress have infiltrated the protests and are trying to stop BJP from campaigning. This can have dangerous consequences as such elements can plot violence against farmers to present a bad image of the BJP.

However, now people have come to know about these tricks of AAP and Congress. According to Jakhar, to deal with the protests, the party has warned farmer organizations to keep an eye on the wrong intentions of Congress and AAP.

Farmers have full right to express their views democratically. Dialogue is the only way and for this, the doors of BJP are always open. He said that the Lok Sabha elections will form the foundation of the assembly elections in 2027.

Making serious allegations, Jakhar said that BJP's biggest challenge is that AAP and Congress are stopping them from campaigning. They have brought this matter to the notice of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).

He says that their cadre is doing its work in villages where their candidates face difficulty in reaching. By 2027, BJP will have reached every nook and corner of the state and will sweep the elections.

There are 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab where voting will take place on June 1. This time a multi-cornered contest is seen on most seats in the state. Apart from Aam Aadmi Party, Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal, and BJP are all contesting separately.

The Aam Aadmi Party and Congress are members of India Block in Delhi and Gujarat, including neighbouring Haryana, and are contesting as part of an alliance. But there is no alliance between them in Punjab; both are contesting separately.

This time, Akali Dal, one of BJP's oldest allies in NDA, is also contesting separately.