Two days after the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) said there was no proposal to have an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Sukhbir Badal’s party appears to be warming up to the saffron party by agreeing to attend the inauguration of new Parliament building on 28 May.

“The inauguration of the new Parliament building is a matter of pride for the country, so we have decided that the SAD party will attend the inauguration ceremony on May 28. We do not agree with the issues raised by Opposition parties,” senior SAD leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema told a news agency on Wednesday.

The SAD announced the decision on Wednesday even as 19 Opposition parties, including Congress, have decided to “boycott” the Sunday inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Tuesday announced a boycott of the inauguration ceremony.

The Opposition parties allege that Prime Minister Modi’s decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building himself, instead of President Droupadi Murmu, which they said is an insult to the high office she holds, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution.

This Akali Dal’s decision to attend the inauguration comes amid speculation over possibility of the former allies SAD and BJP reuniting in Punjab for 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Both parties, however, deny such a possibility.

While the BJP on Sunday announced its decision to contest all 13 seats in Punjab on its own in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the SAD on Monday said it too has ‘no desire’ to ally with the saffron party.

Expressing surprise at the “repeated assertions” of the BJP that it would not ally with the Akali Dal, SAD spokesman and senior leader Maheshinder Singh Grewal said, “The SAD is allied with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Punjab. Since the alliance is doing well, there is no proposal to have a truck with any other party, including the BJP.”

“The SAD has never talked about any future alliance with the BJP and the latter should stop speculating on this issue on an everyday basis,” he added.