BJP wants SAD to contest Jangpura

All is not well between the BJP and its ally Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal over seat sharing in the coming Assembly polls as the saffron party wants its ally to contest from Jangpura instead of Hari Nagar, in addition to three other seats.

The BJP is willing to give the Akali Dal (Badal) the Jangpura seat, which was won by Speaker M S Dhir on an AAP ticket in the last elections, in place of Hari Nagar and is open to allowing the ally to recontest three other seats, a party leader said.

Dhir who recently joined the BJP had earlier been an active member of the Akali Dal.
His exit from the Aam Aadmi Party for joining the saffron party is a strong indication of his renomination from the Jangpura seat on an Akali ticket, said a BJP leader.

He said the BJP is not keen on letting the ally take away all the credit, especially in Sikh-dominated seats including Hari Nagar, for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposal to increase the monetary compensation for the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims.

“Hari Nagar has been a traditional stronghold of the BJP. The Akali’s could not win the seat and the BJP paid a heavy price by falling short of the majority in the last polls,” said a BJP leader.

The Akali Dal’s candidates won three out of the four seats that they contested in the last Assembly polls. Hari Nagar seat was the lone constituency where the BJP ally lost to the AAP candidate.

Shyam Sharma of the Akali Dal contested on Hari Nagar seat for the BJP-SAD alliance.
The other three seats won by the Akali Dal were Shahdara, Rajouri Garden and Kalkaji.

A BJP leader said the central leaders incharge of Delhi affairs are minutely studying the voters’ mood in all the four seats which the Akali Dal wants to contest.
The BJP leaders are not willing to reveal their cards on the seat sharing formula with the Akali Dal.

“They are our allies but we can’t say on which seats their candidates will contest,” said a leader who is part of the core team of Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay.

Manjit Singh GK, who heads the Delhi unit of SAD-B, said he was hopeful that his party would get at least four constituencies to contest in the next elections also.