New Delhi, December 27
The Shiromani Akali Dal today agreed to 22 of the 23 seats demanded by the BJP for the coming Assembly poll in Punjab. However, talks between the two alliance partners would continue for the contentious Assembly seat of Rajpura.
The stalemate on seat-sharing was broken following talks between SAD chief Parkash Singh Badal and BJP president Rajnath Singh here. The two main negotiators, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Mr Arun Jaitley, were also present at the meeting.
Sources said the BJP pressed for the 23 seats it had contested in the 2002 poll, although it had won only three. However, the Akalis, senior partner in this alliance, maintained that it had better candidates and winnability should be the criteria.
The BJP had contested 23 of the 117 assembly seats during the last state elections. One seat was left in vain for the Bahujan Samaj Morcha.
With the expected anti-incumbency factor likely to work against the ruling Congress-led Amarinder Singh government, there was considerable pressure from party workers on the SAD not to concede many seats to the BJP. There was difference of opinion on two seats - Rajpura and Garhshankar with both parties maintaining that their’s was a better candidate.
After long deliberations, the leaders of the two parties decided that they would take a decision on Rajpura seat during another round of talks. No date has, however, been fixed for this.
The alliance partners also discussed the poll strategy and the issues to be highlighted during the campaign. There was also discussion on the joint manifesto.
The two leaders discussed the need to petition the Election Commission to ensure free and fair poll by deploying enough central forces.
Akali sources said the Political Affairs Committee of the SAD would meet on Saturday to discuss preparations for the poll. It is learnt that the meet could finalise the party’s stand on the two contentious seats demanded by the
BJP.
