AAP claims SAD-BJP alliance 'finalised', Akalis slam 'misinformation'

Malvinder Singh Kang, the AAP's chief spokesperson in Punjab, claimed that former Union minister and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal initiated efforts to seal the alliance. Responding to Kang's claims, SAD asked the AAP to stop its "misinformation campaign".

The AAP on Saturday claimed that the SAD and the BJP have already "finalised" an alliance in Punjab and are waiting for a suitable time to announce it.

Malvinder Singh Kang, the AAP's chief spokesperson in Punjab, claimed that former Union minister and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal initiated efforts to seal the alliance.

He also said that leaders of the two parties met in Delhi 15 days ago to discuss the terms of the coalition.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), however, rubbished the claims with senior party leader Daljit Singh Cheema slamming the AAP for "spreading misinformation" to "divert attention from the AAP and the Congress' unprincipled and unholy alliance".

Both the Congress and the AAP are part of the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc.

Kang claimed in a statement on Saturday, "The terms of the alliance are already decided … the BJP does not want SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and his brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia to contest the Lok Sabha elections. People in the BJP know the obvious dislike the people of Punjab have for these two leaders," he said.

Kang also claimed that "behind the curtain", the BJP and the SAD were "always one and never separated".

The SAD broke off its ties with the BJP over the now-repealed farm laws in 2020. It had been part of the National Democratic Alliance since 1997, having stitched up a pre-poll alliance with the BJP ahead of the assembly elections in Punjab that year.

Kang further claimed that the SAD only did the "drama" of breaking its alliance with the BJP to "mislead" people during the farmers' protest.

"But the people of Punjab already hate both the parties and their alliance will only make the public dislike them even more," he said.

Kang further claimed, "The SAD and the BJP are a team but they are not announcing it to the public yet because they are scared of the ire they will face from the people of Punjab."

Responding to Kang's claims, SAD leader Cheema asked the AAP to stop its "misinformation campaign".

"The AAP wants to divert public attention from the AAP-Congress unprincipled and unholy alliance, which both the parties are not able to explain to the public," he said in a post on X.

Cheema also asked AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal what his compulsion is to make his party spokesperson provide "false statements" to the media.