Bishnoi breaks ties with BJP. A miscalculationIJ
After breaking his Haryana Janhit Party's three-year long association with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi has gone to town blaming the BJP for the break-up and accusing it of having a history of betraying its allies. It is not clear which name he has in mind that the BJP has betrayed as an ally. There are those who left the National Democratic Alliance on one issue or the other, while there are others that have joined (or re-joined) the NDA. Mr Bishnoi knows that these are legitimate political manoeuvrings, just as his decision to part ways with the BJP before an Assembly election is. There is no need for him to project himself as a victim; it does not convince. The alliance collapsed because he wanted a bigger share in the Assembly seats' pie from the State, which the BJP was unwilling to concede. While Mr Bishnoi had every right to demand the best deal that was possible, he should have kept the ground reality in mind. And that reality is as follows: The BJP is on the ascendant in the State and it naturally does not want to concede to an ally more than is absolutely essential. On the other hand, the HJC is not in the pink of health. In the last lok Sabha election, the ruling party at the Centre bagged eight of the 10 seats of the State while the HJC, drew a blank, losing the two seats it contested. The HJC may today allege that its candidates were defeated as a result of the BJP's machinations, but this is difficult to swallow. After all, the BJP would have wanted as many seats in the alliance's kitty as it could. So why would it torpedo that possibilityIJ Moreover, the BJP has been cementing its position with the recent arrival of several prominent leaders from the Congress into its fold. On the other hand, Mr Bishnoi has been steadily losing his key leaders to others. He has been unable to stem the rot within his party, which is weakening the HJC on the eve of the Assembly election.
Despite these worrisome developments, the BJP was willing to proceed with the alliance with Mr Bishnoi in the Assembly poll — but on terms that reflected its growing clout and the performance of the HJC in the Assembly constituencies in the just concluded lok Sabha election. Unfortunately, Mr Bishnoi wanted a disproportionately large share — some reports suggested that he had demanded as many 50 per cent of the 90 seats on offer. This was obviously unacceptable to the BJP. Mr Bishnoi was told about this on numerous occasions when leaders of both the parties engaged in a preliminary dialogue on seat-sharing. The HJC chief is now seeking political relevance by hoping to forge alliances with smaller outfits such as the Haryana lokhit Party headed by the tainted Gopal Kanda. He has also extended an olive branch to the Bahujan Samaj Party. At the very least, he must be wanting to impact the BJP through a division of votes, both Jat and non-Jat. Time will tell whether he can achieve anything meaningful through these attempts.