In Maharashtra, as the BJP and its oldest ally Shiv Sena are on warpath reportedly over a 50:50 power sharing formula with the latter demanding rotation of Chief Minister’s post, the Haryana dispensation, headed by the BJP and its newest ally Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), is sailing smoothly and set to work out a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) and also witness Cabinet expansion after the special session of the Assembly, next week.
Mohan Lal Khattar, who is in the national Capital after taking oath as Chief Minister of the State for the second time, said a committee comprising leaders of both the parties to chalk out the CMP as sought by JJP leader Dushyant Chautala, Deputy Chief Minister, backing the BJP-spearheaded Government in the State.
Khattar spoke about the expansion of his Cabinet after he called on President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and BJP’s general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh.
He took oath on Sunday along with Dushyant Chautala, great grandson of former deputy Prime Minister late Devi Lal, as the BJP formed Government in the State in alliance with the JJP.
“The Cabinet will be expanded after the special session of the State legislative Assembly. A committee will also be formed comprising leaders of both BJP and JJP to formulate a common minimum programme for the Government,” Khattar said.
Dushyant, who is also here, said both parties will work together for the welfare of the State and will take decisions collectively. The special session of the State Assembly is likely next week. Khattar also invited Naidu to inaugurate the International Gita Mahotsav in the State.
In another development, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), headed by Om Prakash Chautala, grandfather of Dushyant Chautala, which split following differences within the family, leading to the expulsion of Dushyant and his father Ajay Chautala, seem to be on the path of re-uniting with the latter meeting his estranged brother Abhay Chautala. The Chautala families are united, only parties are different, said Dushyant Monday’s amicable meeting between Ajay Chautala and Abhay Chautala revived hopes of an end to a festering family dispute that led to a vertical split in the INLD last year.
Ahead of the Haryana Assembly polls, some ‘khaps’ and even former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, a family friend of the Chautalas, had made efforts to bring the two brothers together but it did not yield results.
Asked about the prospects of his JJP and the INLD coming together, Dushyant, without taking any names, said they should reconsider what they have done. “...It is for them to consider who broke the ties,” he told reporters here.
Dushyant launched the JJP in December 2018 after he, his younger brother Digvijay Chautala and Ajay Chautala were expelled from the Abhay Chautala-led INLD.
The JJP’s winning 10 seats in the recently concluded Haryana Assembly polls, launching him as a kingmaker in the State after the Assembly poll last week threw up a hung assembly with BJP (40seats) running short of six seats for the majority.
On the other hand, the INLD fared dismally, bagging only one seat. In the 90-member assembly, the Congress is second with 31 seats while seven independents also
won.
Ajay, who is serving a 10-year prison term in a teachers’ recruitment scam along with his father Om Prakash Chautala and is out on a two-week furlough from Tihar Jail, termed the INLD’s decision to expel him and his sons
“wrong”.
“I had said earlier also that we will force them to rethink. I had said we will create such circumstances that Chaudhary Om Prakash Chautala (INLD president) and INLD will be forced to rethink. They took a wrong decision which affected not only the people of
Haryana but also the family,” he said.
“Even now I am saying that he (O P Chautala) should rethink, he is our elder, we respect him. I am always of the belief that division in the family never helps anyone, it only causes loss,” he added.