In notable political development, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have established an electoral alliance for the next assembly polls. The further details will be announced on Saturday.
Both the parties are uniting after 27 years after the 1996 Lok Sabha polls when the alliance had bagged 11 of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. Back then, BSP had won all the three seats it had contested. While SAD bagged eight out of 10. SAD party’s president Sukhbir Singh Badal is said to be behind the revival of the alliance. One of the senior members of SAD informed the necessary procedures for the alliance had completed after many rounds of talks between Sukhbir and BSP leader Mayawati.
Official sources informed that the BSP is likely to be given 20 seats. And if voted to power the SAD was not averse to have the deputy chief minister from the BSP since Sukhbir has already committed deputy chief minister’s post to a Dalit if his party is voted to power.
Notably, the BSP has a strong presence among Dalits in all 23 seats falling under the Doaba region where the Scheduled Caste votes, mainly Ravidasias, can sway the poll results. Dalits make for almost 40% of the population in Punjab.
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