Sukhbir Badal meets PM Modi, fuelling SAD-BJP alliance speculation

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter's Parliament House office in New Delhi on Friday, according to sources familiar with the meeting. The meeting has renewed speculation about a possible rapprochement between the SAD and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly election.

Both parties remained tight-lipped about the discussions. Senior SAD leader Daljit Cheema declined to comment on the alliance question, stating only that talks had taken place. "The leaders have met, that's all," Mr. Cheema told The Hindu.

A SAD source, requesting anonymity, said the possibility of an alliance could take shape with talks underway. "Even people within the BJP are sensing that the political landscape in the country is shifting in light of the recent protests. The parties opposed to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are joining hands, and there's now a sense within the BJP that the NDA should unite everyone and bring its allies together," the source said.

The SAD and the BJP were alliance partners for over two decades, with the partnership beginning in the late 1990s. The alliance broke in 2020, when the SAD quit the NDA in protest against the Centre's farm laws. The laws, which had sparked widespread protests by farmers, especially in Punjab, were later repealed. The SAD, one of the BJP's oldest allies, had termed the laws as detrimental to farmers' interests.

Political observers see significance in the fact that the meeting was publicised. "It indicates that the outcome is positive in terms of the alliance; otherwise, the meeting would have been kept secret," said Pramod Kumar, director of the Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh.

"If the SAD and BJP contest independently, both parties will end up competing for the third or fourth position, with the main contest between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress. Fighting in alliance would bring SAD and BJP into the reckoning," Mr. Kumar added.

He further noted that both parties have become politically vulnerable. "The logical outcome to overcome that vulnerability was to enter into an alliance. But this alliance, if based on the Moga declaration of 1995 — through which the SAD avowed to stand for 'Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat' — will ensure not only peace and harmony but would take Punjab forward on the development path. If both fight independently, things could tend toward polarisation," he said.

The meeting comes after both parties suffered electoral setbacks in the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls. The SAD won only three seats, its worst-ever performance, while the BJP, contesting alone, won two seats. The Aam Aadmi Party secured a landslide victory, and the Congress finished as the principal opposition.

No official statement has been issued by either party regarding a possible alliance, but the meeting has triggered political speculation across Punjab. The 2027 election is expected to see a multi-cornered contest, and a SAD-BJP tie-up could significantly alter the electoral arithmetic.