Jannayak Janta Party leader Dushyant Chautala, a former coalition partner of the BJP, lost his Uchana Kalan seat in the Haryana polls, the votes for which were counted today.

BJP candidate Devender Chatar Bhuj Attri emerged the winner by a margin of just 32 votes, as per the Election Commission. He beat his nearest rival and Congress candidate and former IAS officer Brijendra Singh.

Mr Chautala, who was the outgoing MLA from Uchana seat, was at the fifth spot.

Mr Attri polled 48,968 votes while Congress’ Singh, who is the son of former union minister Birender Singh, secured 48,936 votes. Mr Chautala got 7,950 votes.

In the 2019 elections, 36-year-old Dushyant Chautala defeated Prem Lata, the wife of veteran leader Birender Singh, who was with the BJP at that time.

After the last assembly polls in Haryana, the BJP formed the government with the support of the 10 JJP MLAS. Dushyant Chautala was the Deputy Chief Minister. The parties fell out over seat sharing in the state for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

This time, however, beating anti-incumbency and exit poll predictions, the BJP is leading in 49 of Haryana’s 90 seats. The Congress, shocked by the result, says that it cannot accept them.
 

Banners related to upcoming election can be seen at Ambala district in Haryana.
| Photo Credit: Sabika Syed

New Delhi:

Former Haryana Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala was fined by the traffic police in Faridabad for not wearing a helmet during a political road show.

Mr Chautala of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) was fined Rs 2,000 for the road safety violation while riding a motorcycle, the police said.

The police have also seized 14 motorcycles involved in the road show. The two-wheeler that Mr Chautala was riding was registered in the name of an individual, Riyasat Ali.

JJP leader Karamat Ali had organised a public meeting in Gochi, and Mr Chautala had visited as the chief guest. At least a hundred JJP workers were seen riding without helmets, the police said, adding they are identifying the number plates to send challans.

A total of 15 challans were issued during the road show.

Mr Chautala said the party will soon finalise its candidates for the October 1 Haryana election. He said there will be no place for those who have “betrayed” the organisation. The former Deputy Chief Minister said the JJP is fully in election mode, with preparations underway at a rapid pace.

The Ajay Singh Chautala-led JJP and the Chandra Shekhar Azad’s Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) on Tuesday announced their alliance for the assembly polls. Under the alliance formula, the JJP will contest 70 of the 90 assembly seats, while the Azad Samaj Party will contest 20.

Dushyant Chautala said that an important meeting of the JJP’s political affairs committee is scheduled for September 2 where most candidates of his party will be finalised.

Chandigarh:

In a big jolt to Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) a month ahead of the assembly elections in Haryana, four of their 10 MLAs have quit the party.

MLAs Ishwar Singh, Ramkaran Kala and Devendra Babli resigned from the primary membership and all responsibilities of the party today while Anoop Dhanak had quit yesterday. They are likely headed to the BJP and Congress, the two major parties that had won five seats each in the Lok Sabha elections held in June.

The JJP, led by the former deputy chief minister, had earlier sought the disqualification of two other MLAs – Ramniwas Surjakhera and Jogi Ram Sihag – for anti-party activities. They had campaigned in favour of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.

Another MLA, Ramkumar Gauram from Narnaund, had been opposed to the party for some time.

This effectively means the party is left with just three loyalists in the state assembly, which includes Dushyant Chautala, his mother Naina Chautala, and Amarjit Dhanda.

Haryana is to set vote on October 1 to elect its 90-member assembly, the Election Commission announced yesterday. The votes will be counted on October 4.

Mr Dhanak, an MLA from Uklana in Hisar, was a minister in the BJP-JJP coalition government that fell with the resignation of ML Khattar earlier this year. He is likely to join the BJP.

Mr Babli, who represents Tohana in Fatehabad; Mr Singh, an MLA from Guhla Chikka in Kaithal district; and Mr Kala, who represents Shahbad in Kurukshetra, are likely to join the Congress.

While the sons of Mr Kala and Mr Singh had already joined the Congress, Mr Babli had campaigned for senior Haryana Congress leader Kumari Selja in the Lok Sabha elections.

New Delhi:

The owner of a bike showroom in Haryana’s Hansi was shot dead by a group of four bike-borne attackers today. Three men barged into a Hero motorcycle dealership and fired at the owner, Ravindra Saini, while a fourth waited outside. Mr Saini was associated with the Jannayak Janta Party.

The showroom’s armed guard tried to intervene but could not stop the attack.

CCTV installed outside the showroom caught the attackers entering the showroom and then escaping on a bike after the murder.

Video from the camera showed a man waiting for the three men on a bike outside the showroom. The three attackers were seen hurriedly hopping onto the bike and riding away.

The police have launched a massive manhunt to arrest the accused, officials said.

Chandigarh:

The Jannayak Janta Party on Wednesday morning issued a three-line whip to its MLAs in the Haryana Assembly, ordering them to be absent from House proceedings for the day.

The MLAs were directed to miss a floor test meant to assess the majority status of the new Bharatiya Janata Party-led government. The whip has been seen by as illegal, as no party can stop participation in a democratic exercise; they can only direct votes on party lines.

Should the JJP MLAs – on paper there are 10, though there are reports that at least five will breakaway, form a new group, and join the BJP – follow the whip, it will bring down the majority mark in the 90-member House from 46 to 41, which is the BJP’s current strength. A lowered majority mark will ensure the BJP passes; although even without that it has the numbers thanks to support from independents.

Haryana witnessed a swift change of government over the past 48 hours, with senior BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar and the entire cabinet, which included three from the JJP, quitting Tuesday.

READ | BJP’s Nayab Singh Saini Takes Oath As New Haryana Chief Minister

The party’s state boss, Nayab Singh Saini, was chosen to replace him and took his oath hours later, with four BJP MLAs (from the just-disbanded cabinet) by his side.

READ | Who Is Nayab Saini: 5 Facts On New Haryana Chief Minister

In line with the rules, the floor test was then ordered for 11 am the following day.

Ahead of this floor test, the BJP had claimed the support of 48 MLAs – its 41 plus the seven independent lawmakers. This is not including the five expected to join from the JJP.

The proximate cause of the break-up of Mr Khattar’s government was the failure of the BJP-JJP alliance, which was formed after the 2019 Assembly election, in which the former emerged as the single-largest party but fell six seats short of an outright majority. 

The party eventually formed the government with support from the JJP, which was given a few ministerial berths and party boss Dushyant Chautala was made Deputy Chief Minister. Mr Chautala maintained radio silence through most of yesterday, emerging only after the swearing-in to thank the people of Haryana.

READ | “Worked Day And Night”: Dushyant Chautala On BJP’s Haryana Revamp

The alliance reportedly broke this week due to failed seat-sharing talks for the 2024 Lok Sabha election; the JJP wanted two of the state’s 10 seats, but the BJP would only give one.

Sources, however, have told NDTV the BJP also had one eye on the apparent renaissance of eternal rivals Congress in the heartland state; last week MP Brijendra Singh quit the BJP – for “compelling political reasons” – joined the Congress after being denied a ticket for his seat. 

Sources said the party hopes that a split from the JJP will help break-up the Jat votes between the state party and the Congress, both of whom have influence over a community that accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the state population. 

The state is also home to a large community of farmers, who are unlikely to offer significant support to the BJP given tension over the MSP, or minimum support price, issue. Sources said the BJP is hoping, instead, to maximise votes from the remaining 80 per cent.

There were also rumours – which might now prove to be true – that Mr Khattar would be re-assigned to a Lok Sabha contest. The two-time former Chief Minister is likely to fight from the Kurukshetra seat that was held by Nayab Saini but will now become vacant.

Mr Khattar’s Lok Sabha bow fits with the BJP’s gameplan in recent elections of fielding big-name leaders for key seats to boost the winnability factor and create a buzz.

Also, Haryana has only 10 Lok Sabha seats and given the BJP’s ruthlessness in replacing sitting MPs to avoid the anti-incumbency bias, there may have been concern this could leave too many disgruntled senior leaders heading for the exit and strengthening rivals.

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Chandigarh:

Former Union Minister Birender Singh on Monday threatened to quit his party, the BJP, if it continues its alliance with Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) in Haryana.

The JJP is a junior partner in the BJP-led government in Haryana. Dushyant Chautala is the Deputy Chief Minister.

“If the BJP-JJP alliance continues, then I will leave BJP,” the former minister, who was earlier in the Congress, made the remarks at a public rally, “Meri Awaz Suno”, in Jind.

He also said that he has got a lot of respect from the BJP and there is no reason for him to criticise the party. “But Birender Singh always speaks his mind and that is my nature,” he said.

Accusing the JJP of indulging in rampant corruption, the BJP leader said, “A big leader of the JJP has betrayed the people in such a massive way that no other political leader of Haryana has.”

Birender Singh, who crossed over to the BJP in 2014, is a prominent Jat face from Haryana. He has also been a three-time minister in the Haryana government.

Birender Singh’s family and JJP chief Ajay Singh Chautala’s family are political arch-rivals.

The bone of contention, say reports, is who will get the Uchana Kalan seat, which is a family stronghold of Birender Singh.  

In 2014, Prem Lata, Birender Singh’s wife, defeated Dushyant Chautala. In 2019, the JJP leader avenged his loss. Political observers say the seat is likely to go to Dushyant Chautala again his time.

Dushyant Chautala too has made it known that he wishes to contest from the same seat. Birender Singh’s family too wants the same seat.

There has been no reaction from the BJP on the leader’s statement.