Chandigarh:
Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday said he will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Mr Badal said this after a day-long meeting with party leaders, district party presidents and members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) here to discuss candidates for the state parliamentary seats.
Asked whether he will fight the Assembly elections, Mr Badal, the MP from Ferozepur seat, said, “I am not fighting the elections.” Replying to another question, he said consultations were underway on the names of possible candidates.
After completion of the consultation process, the names of the candidates will be announced, he said.
“We held a meeting here for six parliamentary seats in which district presidents, ‘halqa’ leaders and SGPC members were called and their views were discussed,” he replied to another question.
The names of former ministers Anil Joshi, Parminder Singh Dhindsa and former MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu are doing the rounds from Amritsar, Sangrur and Jalandhar (reserve) seats respectively, party sources said.
Last month, the BJP had announced that it would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Punjab on its own, ending negotiations on re-forming an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal.
At the time, Mr Badal had said principles were more important to his party “than the numbers game”.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had quit the BJP-led NDA in September 2020 over the now repealed farm laws. The two parties had formed an alliance in 1996. In 2019, the SAD and the BJP won two Lok Sabha seats each in Punjab.
Elections to 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will take place on June 1.
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