Badal not to contest LS polls

Chandigarh, Apr 1 Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday announced he would not contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Badal said the decision was taken at the meeting of core committee of the party on Monday evening.

Badal is an MP from Ferozepur constituency, which he had won in 2019.

The surprising decision came, days after BJP Punjab President Sunil Jakhar announced that the saffron outfit would fight elections on its own. Earlier, speculation was rife that the BJP and SAD might revive their two-decade-old alliance, which was broken by the SAD during the farmers' agitation in 2020-21 over the controversial Farm Laws.