Archive · 6 Oct 2026
Harsimrat Badal Denies Signalling SAD-BJP Alliance for Punjab Polls
Harsimrat Kaur Badal is a politician from Punjab.
She is travelling around the state with a campaign focused on women affected by drugs.
She says women are worried about the drug problem and wants them to report suspected dealers and people helping them.
Badal criticizes the AAP government’s response, while Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has blamed an earlier SAD-BJP government for the problem.
Badal says her party would create a special task force if it returned to power.
She also says she has not suggested that SAD should join with the BJP for the election.
She dismissed rumours that she would become the party’s chief ministerial candidate.
Badal says she believes SAD can win public support in the 2027 Punjab Assembly election.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal said she had not signalled support for a Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance in Punjab.
She said her Mawan Dhiyan Insaaf Yatra focuses on women affected by drugs and has visited 14 Assembly constituencies.
Badal accused the AAP government of failing to curb drug trafficking and said police were sometimes accused of selling heroin.
She said Mawan Dhiyan Di Fauj would collect information about alleged traffickers and their supporters for a proposed task force if SAD returned to power.
Badal rejected speculation that she might become SAD’s chief ministerial candidate and said she believed public support could return the party to power.
- Who
- Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Shiromani Akali Dal’s Bathinda MP.
- What
- She discussed her anti-drug campaign, Punjab politics, the possible SAD-BJP alliance and the 2027 Assembly election.
- When
- In an interview ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly election; the article says the election was just over four months away.
- Where
- Punjab, India.
- Why
- Badal said she was campaigning to address the drug problem and represent women affected by it, while responding to political speculation.
Badal’s claims and position
AAP government’s position as described
Responsibility for Punjab’s drug problem
Badal’s claims and position
Badal said drugs were not openly sold on the streets during the 2007–2017 SAD-BJP government and argued that the current AAP government is responsible for today’s situation.
AAP government’s position as described
Badal said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann blames the previous SAD-BJP government’s 2007–2017 tenure for the drug problem.
Women’s aid programme
Badal’s claims and position
Badal described the AAP’s Mawan Dhiyan Satkar financial-aid scheme as symbolic and contrasted it with her campaign’s focus on women affected by drugs.
AAP government’s position as described
The article identifies the AAP programme as a financial-aid scheme for women, but does not provide the government’s response to Badal’s criticism.
- Interviewee
- Harsimrat Kaur Badal, a four-time Bathinda MP
- Party
- Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)
- Campaign
- Mawan Dhiyan Insaaf Yatra, focused on women affected by drugs
- Constituencies visited
- Badal said she had covered 14 Assembly constituencies
- Other campaign
- Mawan Dhiyan Di Fauj aims to identify alleged drug traffickers and their supporters
- Proposed task force
- Badal said the forms would go to a special anti-drug task force headed by a woman DGP if SAD came to power
- Alliance position
- Badal said she had not indicated support for a SAD-BJP alliance
- Election
- Punjab Assembly election expected in 2027