Akalis to NDA allies: Shun differences, fight together

Chandigarh: BJP president on Thursday  Amit Shah held a meeting with the SAD leadership at the house of Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal. At least 25 leaders from both the SAD and Punjab unit of the BJP were present at the meeting.

The main agenda at the meeting was the alliance partners’ strategy for the 2019 general elections. The meeting was been arranged on the request of Mr Shah, who is trying to reach out to the alliance partners under the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. The SAD is expected to raise the issue of wooing farmers.

While SAD top brass, including Parkash Singh Badal and president Sukhbir Singh Badal, rolled out a red carpet for Mr Shah, some of its senior leaders raised the issue of BJP central leadership ignoring the Akali Dal all these years.

After the meeting with the Mr Shah, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal called upon the NDA allies to contest the elections together. “Shiromani Akali Dal is a permanent ally of the NDA. There’s no conflict between us. I would like to appeal to all our allies that this is time to fight, the battle’s in six months. We should get together and cast away all our differences,” Sukhbir Singh Badal said..

Earlier, pitching for strengthening the NDA in a “war-like situation”, the SAD chief said all allia-nce partners must settle their differences to ensure victory in the general elections next year. According to Mr Badal, the BJP and the SAD are “natural allies”.