Announcing the tie-up at a press conference, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal described it as a "new day in politics of Punjab".
Ahead of Punjab assembly elections 2022, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) formed an alliance on Saturday with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a decision which was taken at SAD's core committee meeting.
Announcing the tie-up at a press conference, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal described it as a "new day in politics of Punjab".
"Today, is a historic day...A big turn in Punjab's politics," he said in the presence of BSP General Secretary Satish Chandra Mishra. He said the SAD and the BSP will jointly fight the 2022 polls and other elections together.
The Mayawati-led BSP will fight 20 of the 117 Assembly seats in Punjab, while the remaining 97 seats will be contested by the SAD, he said.
Among the seats which the BSP will contest are Kartarpur Sahib in Jalandhar, Jalandhar-West, Jalandhar-North, Phagwara, Hoshiarpur Urban, Dasuya, Chamkaur Sahib in Rupnagar district, Bassi Pathana, Sujanpur in Pathankot, Mohali, Amritsar North and Amritsar Central.
"It's a historic day as the alliance has been formed with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which is Punjab's biggest party. In 1996, both BSP and SAD jointly fought Lok Sabha polls and emerged victorious on 11 of 13 seats. This time the alliance won't be broken," said BSP MP Satish Mishra.
"We will work to end corruption and scams under Congress' leadership. The current government is anti-Dalits and anti-farmers while we will work for everyone's welfare and development," he said.
SAD had pulled out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) earlier in September over the farm bills with the resignation of Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the post of Union Minister of Food Processing Industries. The BJP used to contest 23 seats under its alliance with the SAD.
Earlier, on June 5, SAD president Badal had said that his party is open for pre-poll alliance with parties other than Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and Aam Aadmi Party.
Badal, whose party was part of ruling NDA at the Centre before pulling out over the new farm laws last year, had categorically ruled out the possibility of aligning with the BJP.
"We are open to alliances with other parties minus Congress, BJP and AAP. We cannot align with these parties. We will form alliances and we are open to others. No chance to go with BJP at all," he had told ANI. The assembly elections in Punjab are scheduled to take place next year.
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