Punjab, the land of revolutions, is approaching another election with a familiar problem ~ it has plenty of Chief Minister aspirants, plenty of political activity, and remarkably little evidence of a new political idea. With State Assembly Election approaching, all major parties appear increasingly preoccupied with themselves. Factionalism, dissidence, rival camps and leadership ambitions dominate political discourse across the spectrum.

That would be merely tiresome were Punjab not confronting a formidable collection of problems. Its agricultural model is straining under the weight of groundwater depletion, abject soil degradation, and economic stagnation. Its industrial towns like Ludhiana or Rajpura have lost the dynamism that once made them synonymous with enterprise. Its young people increasingly look abroad for opportunity. Its public finances leave little room for grand experiments. And Punjab has yet to produce a convincing account of what its economy should look like after the era of wheat, rice, and remittances. The 2026–27 budget projects a revenue deficit of Rs 21,955 crore and a fiscal deficit of Rs 39,971 crore, or 4.1 per cent of GSDP. Agriculture is expected to contract by 2.5 per cent.

These figures ought to be the raw material for a political renaissance. Instead, they have become the backdrop to an increasingly inward-looking politics. Punjab’s political parties seem to have discovered that the easiest election to contest is the one against their own colleagues. Congress has rival camps and competing ambitions. The BJP is trying to consolidate itself after its separation from the Shiromani Akali Dal. The Akalis are fighting to recover lost political space. The Aam Aadmi Party, once the insurgent outsider, is now defending its record while managing its own pressures (including defections). The spectacle increasingly resembles an American primary, except there is no primary.

Aspiring leaders campaign against their colleagues, cultivate factions, and position themselves for the nomination while the electorate waits for someone to explain what happens after the election. There is an even more remarkable feature i.e., unbelievable ideological elasticity. Parties that spend months denouncing one another can discover, with astonishing speed, reasons to share a platform when arithmetic demands it. The renewed speculation about a possible SAD-BJP alliance is merely the latest reminder of how fluid Punjab’s political calculations have become. The permutations are almost mathematical ~ Akalis with BJP, Congress with AAP, AAP with........

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