As Congress grapples with infighting and the Aam Admi Party (AAP) struggles to find a face of chief minister, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has already announced candidates for 69 of the 117 constituencies in the Assembly barely a few months before the national elections.

On Monday, the party announced candidates for five other constituencies, including Ludhiana (South), indicating that it was preparing for the elections. The party was removed from power in 2017, battling huge opposition to power over alleged bad governance and mismanagement of cases of sacrilege. If the party still faces an image problem, the crisis in Congress could offer it an opportunity to pull itself together.

He has already reached a pre-ballot deal with the Bahujan Samaj (BSP) party in the state, hoping to nullify the advantage Congress may gain after Charanjit Singh Channi is elevated to minister in the state. chief. In addition, the SAD-BSP group decided to start the mass outreach program from Doaba, strategically choosing the region to take advantage of the “anger” of Congress supporters rather than giving senior positions (CM and Deputy CM ) to the region of Majha.

By focusing on Jalandhar as one of the areas, the two sides, as part of the planned outreach strategy, would launch mass contact programs with residents. Senior SAD leaders said former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal would also be part of the outreach program.

In accordance with the combine’s strategy, they would meet people from diverse backgrounds and their suggestions would be incorporated according to their area of ​​expertise.

The leaders of both parties have asked their local leaders and party workers to identify the location of these outreach programs.

These programs will run throughout the month of October. With BSP as an ally, they did not want to miss the opportunity to hold a state-level function on the anniversary of the death of BSP founder Kanshi Ram. Leaders of both parties have scheduled an event on October 9 near DAV University on Pathankot Road.

With senior Badal entering the campaign after a hiatus, the SAD-BSP group wants to make the most of the chaos in the ruling Congress.

Doing a dig at Congress in Punjab, Harsimrat Badal said on Monday that Congress had failed to keep all of its promises on jobs and farmer loan waivers and now they’ve appointed a chief minister who hasn’t even the freedom to choose their own officers and their own cabinet. “It was the best time for the SAD-BSP combination to start reaching out to people and delivering their development agenda to the people,” said a senior SAD leader.

Read all the latest news, breaking news and coronavirus news here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Telegram.