The BJP appears set to break its alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), with its Haryana affairs in-charge Biplab Kumar Deb arriving in Chandigarh on Friday to meet Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. His arrival followed a day after he met four Independents in New Delhi, and the lone MLA of the Haryana Lokhit Party, Gopal Kanda, on Friday.
After both the meetings, Deb tweeted pictures of him with the MLAs, and said the latter had pledged allegiance to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Khattar to strengthen the country and the state.
Speculation has been building over growing tensions between the BJP and JJP, ahead of the elections next year, and were further fuelled by Deb’s unexpected attack on the BJP partner and his open declaration staking claim over senior JJP leader and Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala’s Uchana Kalan Assembly seat.
The JJP too has been uncomfortable over the BJP-led Centre’s stand on issues such as farmers and the wrestlers’ protest, which directly affect its vote bank.
Deb’s meeting with the Independents lasted nearly two hours, while according to party sources, he met Kanda for nearly an hour today.
In the 2019 Assembly elections, the BJP with 40 seats had fallen short of a majority by six MLAs in the 90-member House, and had to hence turn for support to the newly formed JJP. Last year, the BJP’s tally had gone up to 41, after it won Adampur in a bypoll, while it already enjoys the support of an Independent, Ranjit Singh, who is also a minister. Kanda too declared allegiance to the BJP long back. Hence, it needs a handful of MLAs for a majority.
The Independents who met Deb Thursday were Dharampal Gonder (Nilokheri, SC-reserved constituency), Rakesh Daulatabad (Badshahpur), Randhir Singh Gollen (Pundri) and Somveer Sangwan (Dadri). Incidentally, after the 2019 polls, all had announced their support to the BJP, but the BJP had instead entered into an alliance with the JJP. Three of them are old BJP hands.
In 2014, Sangwan had contested from Dadri on a BJP ticket in 2014, and lost. He was denied the ticket in 2019, leading to him contesting as an Independent and winning. The BJP government accommodated him by making him chairman of the Haryana Pashudhan Board, but he resigned during the 2020-21 farmers’ agitation against the three Central farm legislations.
Gollen’s story is the same, while Pundri was earlier associated with the BJP at the district level.
The fourth Independent, Daulatabad, contested as an Independent in 2009 and on an INLD ticket in 2014, losing both times. Finally in 2019, he won as an Independent by over 10,000 votes.
With just over a year to go for the next Assembly polls, the top leadership of the BJP and JJP have been non-committal on continuation of their alliance, with their leaders passing stinging comments against each other.
On June 4, addressing a gathering at Uchana Kalan, Deb said Uchana’s next MLA would be former BJP Union minister Birender Singh’s wife Prem Lata, whom Dushyant had defeated in 2019 by over 48,000 votes — indicating that the BJP was staking claim to the seat.
Deb also said, “The BJP is not dependent on the JJP, and several Independent MLAs are in constant touch with us.”
On Thursday, after meeting Deb, Sangwan said he had suggested that the BJP end its alliance with the JJP, since Independent MLAs like him were already backing the BJP.
Deb also said in his speech: “The JJP did not do the BJP a favour by forging a post-poll alliance in Haryana. In return, several of their MLAs were made ministers.” While Dushyant is the Deputy CM, the JJP’s Devender Babli is Minister of State (MoS) with Independent charge of Panchayat and Development Departments, Anoop Dhanak is MoS in-charge of Revenue and Disaster Management, as well as of Industries and Commerce.
Recently, Dushyant too indicated all was not well, saying: “I’m nobody to predict the future. But do you want the JJP to limit itself to a mere 10 seats? Or would the BJP limit itself to only 40 seats? No, both parties would work hard with all 90 seats in mind.”
Former Union minister Birender Singh said on Friday, “The JJP’s own MLAs are not with the party. The BJP stands to benefit by walking ahead without the JJP. There is little need of any alliance left for the BJP in Haryana.”
A senior BJP leader told The Indian Express: “There is a strong likelihood that the BJP won’t contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha polls in alliance with the JJP. There would be no seat-sharing arrangement either. Of course, if need be, there is always the possibility of a post-poll alliance, like what happened in 2019. That is why both parties are currently working to expand their respective bases.”
Earlier on Friday though, senior BJP leader and Cabinet minister Anil Vij tried to lower the simmering tensions between the BJP and JJP, saying, “If there are two utensils in the house, they rattle. But sensible people pick them up and put them back, and the household continues to run.”
On Deb’s meetings, Vij, who is known to speak his mind, said: “Biplab Deb meets everyone and is a very good party affairs in-charge. These days, he is meeting more and more old party workers. Today he met a few MLAs who have supported us. He keeps talking to people from other parties.”
