The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is doing a rethink on its alliance with Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) in Haryana, as it believes the alliance may not yield positive results in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections for the state’s ten seats. A decision on the coalition’s future is expected by the end of this month, coinciding with the conclusion of the BJP’s month-long “Sampark see Samarthan” campaign across the country.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during a recent public rally in Sirsa, had declared that the BJP would win all ten Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. Subsequently, Shah held a meeting with top BJP leaders from Haryana, including Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana BJP-in-charge Biplab Kumar Deb, and Haryana BJP President Om Prakash Dhankar, to assess the effectiveness of the BJP-JJP alliance in the lead-up to the Lok Sabha polls.
Sources indicate that the feedback received in the meeting was against continuing the alliance with the JJP, as the party is seen to have a “tainted” image in the state, which does not align with the BJP’s anti-corruption agenda.
The strained relationship between the BJP and the JJP became apparent when Dushyant Chautala, soon after Shah’s rally in Sirsa, countered the BJP’s claim of winning all ten Lok Sabha seats in the state. Chautala asserted that his party is also preparing to contest and win all ten seats, stating, “Neither can we stop the BJP, nor can the BJP stop us.” He went on to add that his party is also preparing to contest and win all 10 seats.
The future of the coalition government in Haryana has been under discussion for the past few weeks, particularly after Haryana BJP-in-charge Biplab Kumar Deb met with five independent MLAs in the state
The future of the coalition government in Haryana was being discussed over few weeks after the state-in-charge Deb met five independent MLAs in the state . BJP has 41 MLAs, JJP 10 and seven MLAs are independent and the saffron party requires five more MLAs to reach the magical figure of 46 in the 90-strong Haryana assembly. PNS
Congress won 31 assembly seats in the last Haryana assembly elections. “ A decision could be arrived at by the end of June or first week of July”, sources said.
The BJP has planned several public rallies in Haryana till June 30 to be addressed by many top central and state party leaders. BJP’s month-long ‘sampark se samarthan’ campaign in Haryana would also come to an end by the month-end. Haryana assembly polls are due next year when General elections would also be held.