Badals tie up with BJP in Haryana for first time

CHANDIGARH/JIND: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has for the first time decided to formally ally with its Punjab partner Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana. The two parties have been long-standing NDA partners, but the Shiromani Akali Dal had an alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), led by the Chautalas, in Haryana till they split over the SYL canal issue in 2016. Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced in Jind that the SAD will support the BJP government in Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls. He made the decision public after meeting SAD Rajya Sabha MP and senior vice-president Balwinder Singh Bhundar (Punjab) and SAD Haryana unit president Sharan Singh Saunthi in Narwana on Friday.
‘Politics independent of personal ties’

The two parties are already in alliance in Punjab, Delhi and Uttarakhand. However, the SAD had earlier this year announced its decision to contest polls in Haryana on its own. The Akalis will support the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls and not contest from any of the 10 seats, but the party aims to have a seat-sharing pact with the BJP for Haryana assembly polls later this year.

With the BJP alliance, the Badals have politically deserted their long-standing friends, the Chautalas. The SAD-BJP tie-up has also questions about the state of personal ties between the two families, which have been close since the days of former deputy PM Devi Lal, father of current patriarch O P Chautala. Former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal and Devi Lal were known as “Pagdi Badal” brothers in political circles.

Sources close to the Chautalas rule out any impact of the political alliance on ties between the two families. “Political alliances have nothing to do with personal relationships. Such relations always exist and would continue,” says R S Chaudhary of INLD. The SAD’s political move, according to an old Devi Lal and Chautala loyalist, could be traced to the Chautala family split. “The Badals might not be in mood to displease anyone — Chautala Senior or his warring sons Ajay and Abhay over any potential alliance. Hence, he found the middle way.”

Both the families have campaigned for each other. Badal Senior while campaigning for Dushyant Chautala in Hisar in 2014 said the two families had a relationship of heart and that was above every other relationship. In 2005, 2009 and 2014 elections, the two parties would share their workers. There were many instances when INLD would field partymen as SAD candidates. Charanjit Singh, INLD MP from Sirsa, was one such example — he was elected an MLA contesting on SAD ticket.