DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar on Friday flagged off 'Viksit Bharat Modi ki guarantee' video vans here, seeking people's suggestions from across the state for preparing the ruling party's manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. These vans will gather suggestions from the people for the party's "sankalp patra" (manifesto), Jakhar said.

The vans have pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief J P Nadda. An LED screen is fitted in the middle. Two vans will visit each of the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

Jakhar said a mobile phone number is also mentioned on the vans on which people can register their suggestions by recording a voice message. A box has also been kept in the vans for the people to give their suggestions.

He said heads of state BJP's different cells, conveners, co-conveners and executive members will also accompany these vans and hold meetings with the people and take their suggestions when vans crisscross the Lok Sabha constituencies.

Meanwhile, amid the buzz about a possible BJP-SAD reunion before the Lok Sabha polls, Jakhar responded by saying the vans are going in all 13 parliamentary constituencies at the moment.

"So, our preparations are for all the seats," he said.

Asked if an alliance will take shape and whether it it be beneficial for the BJP, Jakhar said it is not a question of benefit of any individual party, but it is always about Punjab and its people.

On senior BJP leader and former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh reportedly playing an important role for stitching an alliance between the SAD and the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he said he cannot comment as he is not part of that process.

To another question how soon can Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, wife of Amarinder Singh, be expected to join the BJP, Jakhar said when that happens, the joining will be in Delhi.

Asked if there is any possibility of his nephew and Congress MLA Sandeep Jakhar joining the BJP in near future, Jakhar quipped by saying, "He has to take his own decision." Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, former Union minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa on Tuesday merged his Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) with the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal. The merger came amid the buzz over the SAD-BJP reunion. The Akalis had quit the NDA in 2020 over the now-repealed farm laws. The SAD (Sanyukt) had contested the 2022 Punjab assembly elections in alliance with the BJP.

Meanwhile, Jakhar said unruly scenes have been witnessed during ongoing Punjab assembly's budget session and accused both the ruling AAP and the opposition Congress of being hand-in-glove and making a "tamasha" (spectacle) in the temple of democracy.

Someday, the chief minister talks about locking the opposition in the House and the other day Congress leader brings an iron chain, he said.

"I am sorry to say that they have made Punjab Vidhan Sabha a theatre. In the temple of democracy, they have made a tamasha of it," said Jakhar.
(editor@dailyworld.in)