A meeting to finalise candidates for the election of a new president for the Punjab unit of the BJP ended up with a discussion on whether or not the party should, in fact, continue with its alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for the upcoming Assembly polls in the State.
The meeting remained inconclusive on that aspect with State leaders who attended the meeting authorising party president Amit Shah to take a decision in this regard.
The meeting, held at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s residence was attended by Mr. Shah, BJP’s organisational general secretary Ram Lal and State prabhari or in charge Prabhat Jha along with members of the party’s State unit.
Fielding SidhuThe party also decided to speak to former MP and cricketer Navjot Singh Siddhu to take on the mantle of a campaign role for the party in the elections to be held in early 2017.
Top sources in the party said that “some members of the State unit’s core group said that the reputation of the SAD government was hurting the prospects of the BJP in the State.”
Party State unit chief Kamal Sharma confirmed that the matter was discussed but didn’t offer a comment on any decision on staying with the alliance or breaking away from it.
“All positive negative issues dealing with the alliance were discussed,” he said.
“Siddhu is an active and senior member of the party in the State. He has been a star campaigner for the party in the past, and we hope he will continue to remain so,” he added.
