Oldest allies, Sena first and now SAD, on path of separation from BJP

September 17

The Shiromani Akali Dal on Thursday night its fired first salvo within the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance by pulling out its lone representative in the Union Council of Ministers.

The move signalled a fissure in the three-decade old association the regional party from Punjab has had with the BJP.

That Harsimrat Kaur Badal referred to it in her resignation letter reflects that ties forged by the BJP veterans Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani may have lost the sheen the partnership mutually benefitted since 1996.

Ironical it may seem that during the last one year, the BJP relations with two of its oldest and staunch supporters – the Shiv Sena and the SAD — have slid down. While the Shiv Sena moving away could be explained to a political compulsion of forming a government in Maharasthra, there is no such apparent pressure on the Akalis. The elections to the State Assembly is still a good 17-odd months away.

The SAD has stopped short of taking a clean break from the BJP. Now that the three Agri-Bills the SAD is opposed to are on course to get a parliamentary nod, the Akalis may have to work on its political calculations on its maintaining the alliance with the national party. Yet, it chose to step out of the Modi government on a day the BJP celebrated the birthday of the Prime Minister as a start of a ‘Sewa Saptah’ (Week of Service).