Amit Shah to meet Badals in Chandigarh on June 7

New Delhi, June 5 : A day after he touches base with Maharashtra ally Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai, BJP chief Amit Shah will hold a closed-door meeting with top leaders of NDA’s Punjab ally – the Akali Dal. BJP’s Punjab president Shwait Malik confirmed that Shah will meet SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal on June 7 in Chandigarh. “It is part of the party president’s ongoing ‘Sampark for Samarthan’ (contact for support) nationwide campaign and has nothing to do with recent Lok Sabha bypolls results,” he said.
“It is a normal routine of the party president that wherever he goes he takes inputs from the ground and also gives guidelines to the cadres. He also meets leaders of the NDA, which in this case is the Akali Dal.
“He will also hold meetings with BJP cadres and some eminent personalities from the region as part of the ongoing abiyaan,” Malik said. This apart, the meetings comes at a time when the BJP is facing tough time with most allies, including the JD(U), which is demanding that its chief Nitish Kumar be announced the NDA face in Bihar.
The JD (U) has insisted that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is the leader of the alliance and it has been the “senior partner” in the state, indicating that it should get a major share. The Akali Dal has also openly made observations on “treatment” by the senior ally to its junior partners.