SAD Targets WPD, Explores Alliance with BJP, ‘Punar Surjeet’ May Join Too

September

2026

The political contest for the Panthic (Sikh Collective) vote among Akali factions came into sharp focus at the Rakhar Punya (Rakhri festival) conferences in Baba Bakala, Amritsar on 28 Aug. Akali Dal Waris Punjab De (WPD) targeted the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) by releasing a document on the drug problem, describing it as one of Panjab’s biggest challenges. WPD said successive governments had failed to check the spread of drugs and announced that it would bring out a white paper examining the three-decade-old drug crisis. On the WPD stage, Sikh scholar Baljit Singh Khalsa narrated an incident from 1997, when Sikh leaders discussed that it was important to defeat then SAD leader Parkash Singh Badal even if they had to vote for kala chor (black thief). SAD spokesperson Dr. Daljit Singh Cheema said, 'They neither opposed Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann nor opened their mouths against the Indian National Congress. They only said we should use all our strength so that the SAD cannot win.' SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal has been vocal about the WPD, calling it 'Virus Punjab De' (Panjab's virus) and ‘imposters’. At the SAD rally, Badal appealed to Panjabis to reject 'anti-Panjab and anti-Panth stooges of agencies'. Ironically, though Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) keeps denying it, talks between BJP and SAD are progressing towards forming an alliance for Panjab elections 2027. Even in the 31 Aug Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) elections, the SAD student’s wing, Students of India’s (SOI), lent support to the BJP student’s wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The alliance talks are stuck over who will contest how many seats, which ones, and who'll be projected for the posts of Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister. After its immense success across India, BJP is now assertive and does not want to play a junior role as in the previous alliance (1996–2020). One round of talks on seat-sharing has already been held on 27 Aug. Parallelly, BJP is also wooing leaders of the SAD breakaway Shiromani Akali Dal (Punar Surjit, revival) led by Giani Harpreet Singh to join a potential broader alliance between the SAD and BJP. BJP leader CR Patil, known for his micro-management skills, and BJP’s Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament) MP from Panjab, Vikramjit Singh Sahney met senior Punar Surjit leaders (earlier coverage).