BJP president JP Nadda today said that Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) will support the saffron party in the upcoming assembly elections in the National Capital. Earlier, alarms were raised within the BJP ranks when Akali Dal had refused to contest the Delhi elections over their alleged difference of opinion with the BJP over the Citizenship Amendment Act.
JP Nadda had a long meeting with SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal before addressing the joint conference. In a joint press conference with SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, Nadda heaped hailed Akali dal as an old and a strong ally, while Badal talked about the emotional sentiments the two parties share with each other.
SAD Chief SS Badal: We never broke the alliance. We just decided to contest the election separately. We’ve been supporting CAA from the beginning. We went to Rajnath Singh&Amit Shah for granting citizenship for Sikhs who have been subjected to persecution in Pak, Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/w1hCxmPry4
— ANI (@ANI) January 29, 2020
On Wednesday, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal asserted that they had never broken the alliance with the BJP and it was just that they had decided to contest the elections separately. He also said that the Shiromani Akali Dal has supported the CAA from the beginning and that he had gone to Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah to demand the grant of citizenship to persecuted Sikhs from Pakistan.
Read: From ‘where is BJP’ to Kejriwal panicking – How Amit Shah changed Delhi assembly elections in a week
Badal also added that the alliance with the BJP is bound by emotions, for peace, the future, and interests of Punjab and the country,” he said. “There were some misunderstandings that have been sorted out.”
Earlier, Akali Dal’s decision to not contest Delhi elections had given fuel to the rumours of a possible rift between the two long-standing political allies. The flashpoint between the parties was rumoured to be their indifferences between the two parties over the CAA. SAD’s unequivocal stand on the inclusion of Muslims in CAA had set BJP’s teeth on edge. However, SAD chief’s latest statements extending support to the BJP in Delhi elections have put to rest the speculations of discord in their alliance.
Delhi will go to elections on 8th February and the results will be declared on 11th February.
