New Delhi:

Dushyant Chautala — the prime mover behind the bid to pull down the Haryana government led by his former ally — the BJP, appears to have taken reports about his MLAs’ secret meeting with the BJP, with textbook equanimity. Switching parties is normal at election time, he told NDTV this evening. Asked about the possibility of an Operation Lotus by the BJP, which is in a tight corner after three Independent MLAs pulled support to the government, he said, “Then the people of Haryana will come to know”. Then, with a straight face, he added, “Who knows, even the BJP MLAs can switch sides”.

Sources have said that four of the nine MLAs from Mr Chautala’s JJP (Jannayak Janta Party) met the former BJP Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar this afternoon. AT the meeting, held in the Panipat house of state minister Mahipal Dhanda, the current political crisis was discussed.

The BJP had ended the alliance with Mr Chautala, a Deputy Chief Minister in the Manohar Lal Khattar government, in March, as it effected a change of guard in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha election. Nayab Singh Saini was brought in to replace Mr Khattar, and Mr Chautala, after a failed Lok Sabha seat sharing deal, was shown the door.

Earlier this week, after the Independents pulled off support to the government, Mr Chautala responded. He promptly declared that the government is now in minority and asked the Governor for a floor test. Appearing at a press conference with leaders of the Opposition Congress, he also said he was ready to provide the Grand Old Party with outside support should they wish to form a new government.

Today, asked about the JJP MLAs’ meeting with Mr Khattar, Mr Chautala told NDTV this is was “not the time to worry about who is meeting whom”. The fact remains that the government is in minority, he added.

While whip and expulsion were the standard means to deal with rebels, “this is the time of election,” he said. “People will switch parties. If someone has to switch parties we will come to know. Let it come out in public. Who knows, even the BJP MLAs can switch sides,” he said.

The Haryana Assembly, with 90 seats, currently has 88 members, which brings the majority mark down to 45. The BJP has 40 MLAs, including three Independent candidates, and is two short of majority. The Congress has 30 MLAs and three independent candidates supporting it. An undivided JJP would bring its numbers up to 43 MLAs.

This scenario leaves two MLAs unaligned-one from the Haryana Lokhit Party and the other from the INLD.

This evening, INLD MLA Abhay Singh Chautala wrote to the Governor, saying if an assembly session cannot be called, President’s Rule should immediately declared in the state.

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.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

New Delhi/Gurugram:
As BJP broke up with its Haryana ally Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) yesterday, Manohar Lal Khattar was replaced as the Chief Minister with Nayab Saini. A floor test, – which will most likely be a routine procedure – is scheduled for 11 am.

Here are the top 10 updates on this big story

New Delhi/Gurugram:

The BJP and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) – its alliance partner in Haryana – are headed for a split amid differences over seat-sharing talks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Sources said that Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will meet Governor Bandaru Dattatreya today to submit his resignation.

BJP will form the government with the support of Independent MLAs after dissolving the cabinet, they said.

“We have already extended our support to Chief Minister Manohar Lal-led government. We also discussed the strategy for the Lok Sabha elections. I got the impression that the process of breaking the alliance with JJP has already started,” Haryana Independent MLA Nayan Rawat told reporters after meeting Mr Khattar.

This, however, is not sure if it’s Mr Khattar who will take oath as the Chief Minister again. Party sources said that the veteran leader may contest the Lok Sabha elections from Karnal.

This comes a day after JJP leader Dushyant Chautala met the BJP president J P Nadda to discuss the seat-sharing among the two allies in the state.

In the last bid to save the alliance, Dushyant Chautala will also meet Home Minister Amit Shah today.

The BJP had won all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the previous elections in 2019. The JJP had allied with the party after the assembly polls.

Chandigarh:

Outgoing Haryana BJP president OP Dhankar said on Friday that no decision has been taken yet on fighting next year’s elections together with current ally JJP, as both parties have remained non-committal on contesting elections jointly.

“When any decision is taken, you will be informed,” Mr Dhankar told reporters.

On being asked how many seats the BJP expects to win in the 2024 Assembly polls, he said, “We will form the government with full majority. When elections draw near, we will inform you about the number of seats too,” he said.

Mr Dhankar was interacting with reporters in Chandigarh shortly before the party high command appointed him the national secretary and brought in Nayab Singh Saini as the state unit chief.

Mr Dhankar was appointed Haryana BJP chief in July 2020 and completed his tenure in July this year.

The Ajay Singh Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) had extended support to the BJP in 2019 after it fell short of a majority in the Assembly polls.

However, in recent months, both the JJP and the BJP have said they are preparing to contest all the 10 Lok Sabha and 90 Assembly seats and have remained non-committal on fighting the elections jointly.

The BJP on Friday appointed Lok Sabha MP from Kurukshetra Nayab Singh Saini, belonging to other backward classes (OBCs), the state unit president in place of Mr Dhankar as the party prepares for the Lok Sabha elections next year to be followed by the Assembly polls.

Replying to another question that the JJP has also entered fray in neighbouring Rajasthan and was contesting the Assembly elections there on a few seats, Dhankar said every party has a right to expand.

When asked if the party has conducted any internal survey for the next year’s Assembly elections, Dhankar said surveys these days keep taking place both at the organisation and the government level.

However, he said the outcome of these surveys are not made public.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)