IndiaPosted at: Oct 26 2026 3:56PM


Punjab: BJP-Akali Dal alignment and the ‘Punar Surjit’ hiccup

Vibha Sharma
New Delhi, Oct 26 (UNI) union Home Minister Amit Shah has targeted BJP’s Punjab rivals Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over their allegations of “vote chori” and discrepancies in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Speaking last week at an event in Delhi, the senior BJP leader also asserted that the “NDA would form the next government in Punjab”—a statement that was read as a clear signal that estranged partners BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are ready for a patch-up.
The SAD had quit the NDA in September 2020 over the Centre’s farm laws.
While realignment is a “possibility anytime soon,” there seems to be an issue—a breakaway faction SAD (Punar Surjit), complicating the political equation.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Punar Surjit) is a splinter faction that broke away from the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led Akali Dal to carve out a space for itself in Punjab politics. The breakaway faction adopted the name to reflect its core ideological mission—to revive, reform, and resurrect the original character and values of SAD.
Punar Surjit means “resurrected” or “revived”.
Sources say the BJP is separately in touch with Punar Surjit leaders to bring them on board as part of a broader coalition.
However, the Sukhbir Singh Badal group wants the rebel group, which as on date doesn’t have an election symbol, to join SAD rather than become a part of the NDA directly. The reason is simple. Badal wants any Akali Dal arrangement with the BJP to be a collective rather than one in which the rebels have the option of making independent decisions.
Sources say it is politically logical for Badal to be apprehensive of the BJP engaging directly with SAD (Punar Surjit), which its leaders say has applied for its own election symbol. “It is expected anytime soon,” they say. If the breakaway faction negotiates directly with the BJP and fights on its own symbol, it could weaken Badal’s authority over his terms with the BJP. Dealing directly with the BJP would give the breakaway group political legitimacy and room to operate independently.
There are strong chances of a BJP–SAD reunion in Punjab, with surveys and political trends all pointing in that direction. For Sukhbir Singh Badal, the concern may not be reunion with the BJP, but whether the breakaway faction would contest independently or with him, say sources.
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