India, Aug. 8 -- A meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday reignited speculation that the former allies could revive their alliance ahead of the Punjab assembly elections due early next year, although BJP leaders maintained the party was preparing to contest all 117 seats on its own.

The one-on-one meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Parliament House complex between the two leaders came years after the SAD walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2020 over the now-repealed farm laws, ending a 23-year alliance that began in 1997.

After the meeting, Badal told reporters that he had met the PM to "discuss issues pertaining to Punjab", bu...