BJP can come to power in Punjab on its own, does not need to ally with SAD: Union Minister Bittu

Chandigarh, Jan 16 (PTI) Union Minister of State (MoS) Ravneet Singh Bittu on Friday indicated the BJP is capable of coming to power in Punjab on its own strength and does not need to ally with its erstwhile partner SAD.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Punjab BJP's protest on law and order and other issues here, the MoS for Railways, when asked about speculations that the party could forge an alliance with SAD, quipped there is no such thing being discussed.

At the same time, Bittu said there are so many splinter groups of the Akalis. "There is not one. With whom should we talk, with whom all will you talk?" he said.

He also alleged that drugs and gangsterism were prevalent during the SAD regime, and questioned whether the alliance would be for these things.

In a separate interaction with the media, AAP leader Baltej Pannu said that Bittu has raised extremely serious questions "by publicly stating that an alliance with the Badals (SAD) would mean a return of 'chitta' (synthetic drugs) and gangsterism in Punjab.

"These are not ordinary political statements. These are confessions that clearly establish who destroyed Punjab between 2007 and 2017," Pannu said, while adding the SAD-BJP ran a coalition government in Punjab earlier.

"If he knows that the Akalis were responsible for pushing Punjab into drugs and gangster violence, then why are some BJP leaders in Punjab aggressively advocating an alliance with them?" Pannu asked Bittu.

Many senior Punjab BJP leaders took part in the party's protest, during which they tried to move to lay a siege to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's residence to question the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for its alleged failure to curb the "deteriorating law and order situation in the state, rising gangsterism, corruption, and the spread of drugs".

However, they were stopped by the police, and some party leaders, including state BJP president Sunil Jakhar, who was leading the protest, and Manoranjan Kalia were briefly detained.

Earlier in October 2025, Bittu had said the BJP will fight all 117 seats in the 2027 Punjab Assembly polls, virtually ruling out the possibility of an alliance with the SAD.

SAD had parted ways with the NDA in 2020 over the three now-repealed farm laws issue. There are speculations that the two erstwhile allies could again enter into a tie-up before the 2027 Assembly polls.

SAD leader Arshdeep Singh Kler took a dig at Bittu's statement.

"The statement given by Bittu is just to make headlines for a day. When he was in the Congress, he used to abuse the BJP. Now, when he is a minister in the BJP government, he is giving baseless statements about rivals. I want to ask the BJP if they are in agreement with Bittu's statement," Kler said, while adding it is SAD only that talks about Punjab and raises issues of its people.

Meanwhile, addressing the gathering of Punjab BJP leaders and workers during the protest, Jakhar described AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal as "Super CM", claiming the Bhagwant Mann government was being "remote controlled" by him.

Hitting out at the AAP government, Jakhar said today the common person in Punjab is not safe and a "gangster raj" prevails. PTI SUN VSD MNK MNK