Chandigarh: Ahead of the Punjab assembly polls to be held in early 2022, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday announced that it has formed an alliance with the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) after 27 years. In the Lok Sabha elections of 1996, both the parties had won 11 out of 13 seats in the state.
SAD President Sukhbir Badal informed that while BSP would contest in 20 out of 117 seats, his party would contest in the remaining. SAD broke its ties with its longstanding ally BJP over the three farm laws passed by the Centre in 2020.
Describing the alliance as historic, BSP MP Satish Mishra said, "In 1996, both BSP and SAD jointly fought Lok Sabha polls and emerged victorious on 11 of 13 seats. This time, the alliance will not be broken," he said.
"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 added.
Previously, the Akali Dal used to contest 23 seats with the BJP. The Akali-Dal-BJP alliance came to power in 2007 before being ousted by Congress in 2017 who won an absolute majority with 77 seats.