Chandigarh, Aug 7 (IANS) With Punjab elections around the corner, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi over law and order situation in the state. Speculations are rife over a pre-poll alliance between both parties, once a two-decade-old coalition partner. An Akali leader said discussion between PM Modi and Badal was centered around Punjab with Badal raising law and order situation. "Even PM heard all our concerns," remarked a senior Akali leader.

At his last visit to Punjab on July 17, PM Modi at the rally in Jalandhar attacked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and also criticised the Congress and the SAD. However a day later, Badal claimed that the Prime Minister did not say anything against his party, but against another Akali faction. On reports of Akali Dal President Badal meeting PM Modi in Delhi, Punjab BJP President Kewal Singh Dhillon said, "Any senior leader can meet the PM. Sukhbir Singh Badal was the Deputy Chief Minister. I am happy that he must have spoken for the good of Punjab. We will contest all 117 seats in Punjab alone. A major joining is going to happen."

With the mass exodus of leaders, even veterans, the fractured Akali Dal, which marked its centennial in 2021, is facing its worst crisis "structurally, organisationally, and even in terms of ideological leadership". People have rejected the Akali Dal in the 2022 Assembly polls for the second consecutive term. At that time, its legislators in the Legislative Assembly of 117 reduced to mere three, down from 15 seats in 2017-22, the lowest-ever number. The Akali Dal was one of the oldest allies of the BJP. It was among the first to support the 13-day Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, the shortest Prime Minister's stint in India's history, in 1996. However, the Akali Dal pulled out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in September 2020 after sharp differences emerged over the three controversial farm laws, now repealed.

--IANS