Punjab Assembly polls 2022: Akali Dal likely to forge alliance with Mayawati’s BSP

New Delhi, June 12: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is in talks with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for a possible alliance ahead of the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections. The Assembly polls in Punjab are scheduled to be held early next year.

The two parties, however, have not made any formal announcement on their possible political tie-up yet. They are likely to announce the details of the alliance later today.

According to reports, Akali Dal is ready to give 18 seats to BSP. The Akali Dal had walked out of the BJP-led NDA over the new agriculture bills last year.

SAD had walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) earlier in September over the new farm bills with the resignation of Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the post of Union Minister of Food Processing Industries.

The party is now looking for an alliance partner to contest the upcoming assembly election. In case the party seals a deal with BSP, it would be a massive political development in Punjab politics.

Last week, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal had hinted at the possibility of stitching a new alliance for the next year's Punjab polls and said that his party is open to alliance with parties other than Congress, BJP and AAP.

The Akali Dal and BSP are entering into an electoral alliance after 27 years since the 1996 Lok Sabha elections when their alliance had bagged 11 of 13 seats in Punjab.

The Mayawati-led party had then won all three seats it had contested while the Akali Dal won eight out of 10 seats.