New Delhi:

Dushyant Chautala told NDTV Wednesday that no member of his Jannayak Janata Party had quit following last week’s split with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Haryana – a rift that cost the party a prominent place in the ruling alliance and Mr Chautala the Deputy Chief Minister’s chair.

“If you are saying someone has left… then that is wrong. No MLA has resigned or parted ways. Yes, there was a whip that was issued. It was decided we would abstain (from the floor test for the new government led by Nayab Singh Saini) and we did. We had five MLAs at a rally addressed by our President (Ajay Singh Chautala, the founder and Mr Chautala’s father) and five in Chandigarh.”

READ | Ahead Of BJP’s Haryana Floor Test, Ex-Ally’s Whip Raises Eyebrows

“I have not of heard a single MLA resigning. If, in the future, someone resigns, then… I mean, now it is political season, in which one person jumps to one party and a second person jumps back,” Mr Chautala told NDTV.

Mr Chautala also confirmed what was widely reported – that the BJP-JJP rift was over a failed Lok Sabha seat-share deal – but quashed talk that the discord had extended to half his 10 MLAs crossing over. He stressed the JJP cadre remains committed to success in the Lok Sabha election and the Assembly poll.

“I just want one to make one clear statement on all of this… we were discussing seat-share deals in the NDA (the BJP-led alliance). There were four rounds of meetings in Delhi… in the end we could not agree on the numbers, so the JJP expressed its views. We told the BJP will not contest any Lok Sabha seat with them, but said we need to finalise the Assembly deal,” he said.

“I think after that the BJP took its decision – that the Chief Minister (Mr Khattar) will resign and a new government will be formed. We decided not to be part of this government,” he explained.

READ | New Haryana Chief Minister Clears Test Day After BJP-JJP Break-up

Mr Chautala said the decision was taken “as a cadre… as a party” that wanted to go out and win every Lok Sabha seat; Haryana has 10, all of which were won by the BJP in the last election. He said he also told the BJP the two parties also needed to sit down and plan for the Assembly election.

READ | BJP Wants 10/10 In Haryana Lok Sabha Polls, Faces INDIA Challenge

“We demanded Hisar and Bhiwani-Mahendragarh… BJP wanted to give Rohtak. But by then there were messages that we will go out and cut votes…” he said, hinting at behind-the-scenes discord.

“Every party has one agenda – the cadre has to increase and vote share has to increase. In the past we have seen this, even with BJP, which had two MPs and now has 303. I think it is our cadre’s dream also to have all 10 MPs from Haryana and for the state’s voice to be strong,” he continued.

Mr Chautala told NDTV the focus for him, now, is to ensure a first Lok Sabha win for the JJP and then ramp up the party’s strength in the Assembly – from 10 to 46, the magic number that will allow him to form the next state government independent of the BJP or any other party.

Should that target require a re-alignment of political interests, whether with the BJP or the Congress, this cannot be ruled out, Mr Chautala said. “What happens in the future… in different political scenarios… this can only be discussed after the Assembly election. For now our goal is only to work hard and get a good result. Ruling out scenarios for the future is not possible now,” he explained.

BJP-JJP Haryana Break-Up. What Happened?

Ten days ago Mr Chautala was the Deputy Chief Minister and his JJP was a member of the state government. That changed over a whirlwind 48 hours; ML Khattar quit as the Chief Minister, the cabinet followed, and the BJP re-formed the government with support from the independents.

And then there was the JJP’s whip, which directed its MLAs to abstain from a test of the new government’s strength. The whip was seen by some as a calculated move to ensure the new government passed its test, since abstention made it easier for the party to pass the majority mark.

The flux in the state’s political landscape played out against talk the BJP cut its former ally lose to destabilise the opposition INDIA bloc – to force a division of Jat community votes between the two parties – before the Lok Sabha election in April/May and the Assembly election later this year.

Mr Chautala, who maintained radio silence during the split, later issued a diplomatic comment, thanking the people for their support and promising to continue working for the state.

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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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