The BJP has never been as assertive in Punjab as it has been after the February 2007 assembly polls. After all, it had managed to put up its best-ever performance in the state and helped the Parkash Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to form the government. The Congress’s showing was better than expected; it won 44 of the 117 seats. But for the 19 seats won by the BJP — up from a paltry three in the last election — the SAD may not have found it smooth sailing with just 48 seats in its own kitty.

No wonder, then, the BJP took the credit for bailing out the Akalis. The two parties had partnered each other smoothly in the past as well, with the Akalis having their stronghold in the rural areas and the BJP having an upper hand in the urban areas. But the dynamic of the relationship changed in 2007.

The run-up to the zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections this week witnessed unprecedented violence in the state, giving more indication of trouble brewing between the two coalition partners. The uneasy truce that had been reached after the outbreak of hostilities earlier — for example, after the BJP was denied the post of deputy chief minister in the Parkash Singh Badal government — has obviously been breached.

A similar moment had come late last year when many in the BJP expressed loud unhappiness at the SAD throwing its hat in the ring in a large number of wards in four municipal corporations in the state. Since these were urban areas, which are believed to be BJP strongholds, party workers wanted a greater share for the BJP. However, the SAD managed to wrest a large share and was also able to gain power in all four corporations with the BJP’s support.

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