Chandigarh: Simmering tensions between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Haryana ally Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) have reached a flashpoint, with senior leaders from both parties sparring over the Uchana Kalan assembly seat in Jind district ahead of next year’s polls.
The spat began when Biplab Kumar Deb, BJP’s in-charge of Haryana affairs and former Tripura chief minister, campaigned for former Union minister Chaudhary Birender Singh’s wife Prem Lata in the Uchana constituency Sunday. Prem Lata, a former MLA, had lost the Uchana seat to deputy CM and JJP chief Dushyant Chautala in 2019.
During a workers’ meeting in the constituency Sunday, Deb urged the workers to avenge “Birender Singh’s tears” in 2024. He went on to say that “2024 ka chunav to meri didi hi jeetegi (my sister will win the 2024 election)”, referring to Prem Lata.
Dushyant hit back at Deb Monday saying that he can’t be a “medicine for those with a stomach ache”. Speaking to reporters at Kaithal, he asserted, “I want to make it clear that Uchana is my karmabhoomi and I will definitely contest from there”.
The deputy CM further said that ever since his party had entered a post-poll alliance with the BJP after the 2019 assembly elections, some people, particularly the media, have been speculating on when this alliance will end. However, he added, the alliance has been working well for the past three-and-a-half years.
“Now, who will contest from where and who will get the ticket, this is very early to say in a coalition. If I start announcing the names of my workers as the 2024 election candidates, this will not work,” Chautala told the reporters in reference to Biplab Deb’s support to Prem Lata.
He added: “For those who spoke against me at Uchana yesterday, I just want to say, I can’t become their medicine if they have a stomach-ache. I am preparing for all the 90 assembly seats and so is the BJP. Every party has to keep its workers motivated before the elections. What sort of seat-sharing arrangements are made at the time of election, it is too early to say.”
A day later, Deb clapped back at the deputy CM. Addressing a workers’ meeting in Faridabad Tuesday, Deb said that the JJP has done no “favour” to the BJP by extending its support. “The BJP gave them ministerial posts after all,” he added.
On Thursday, Deb even met four independent MLAs from Haryana at his New Delhi residence — a move that’s being seen as the BJP’s attempt to convey a message that the Manohar Lal Khattar government will survive even if the JJP breaks the alliance.
Following the meeting, Deb posted pictures with the MLAs — Dharam Pal Gonder, Rakesh Daultabad, Randhir Singh Gollen and Sombir Sangwan — on his Twitter handle.
आज दिल्ली आवास पर हरियाणा के निर्दलीय विधायक श्री धरमपाल गोंदर जी, श्री राकेश दौलताबाद जी, श्री रणधीर सिंह जी और श्री सोमवीर सांगवान जी से मिलकर खुशी हुई।
हम सभी माननीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi जी के कुशल नेतृत्व में देश-प्रदेश को समृद्ध बनाने के लिए प्रतिबद्ध हैं। pic.twitter.com/ELSHyuDaQ8
— Biplab Kumar Deb (@BjpBiplab) June 8, 2023
The BJP-JJP alliance was formed after the 2019 assembly polls when neither party got a clear majority. The BJP has 41 MLAs, while the JJP has 10. The BJP now has the support of six Independents and one MLA from the Haryana Lokhit Party. The Congress has 30 and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has one MLA in the 90-member House.
Besides the four MLAs who met Deb Thursday, Ranjit Singh, cabinet minister for Energy and Jails, and Nayan Pal Rawat, an Independent MLA are also supporting the BJP.
Gopal Kanda is the lone MLA from Haryana Lokhit Party who is supporting the BJP, while Balraj Kundu is the lone Independent MLA who is opposing the party. On Friday, Biplab Deb meet Kanda as well.
हरियाणा के पूर्व गृहराज्यमंत्री एवं हलोपा प्रमुख, सिरसा विधायक श्री गोपाल कांडा जी ने शिष्टाचार भेंट की। उन्होंने पीएम श्री @NarendraModi जी और हरियाणा के मुख्यमंत्री श्री @mlkhattar जी के नेतृत्व में अपनी प्रतिबद्धता जताई है।
वे भाजपा की डबल इंजन सरकार के जरिए हरियाणा को सशक्त… pic.twitter.com/EoRAESgok6
— Biplab Kumar Deb (@BjpBiplab) June 9, 2023
‘JJP doesn’t want to go to polls with BJP’, says Birender
Reacting to Biplab Deb’s statement, JJP state president Nishan Singh said though Deb is a former chief minister, he doesn’t seem to be a “mature person”.
“When he knows Dushyant Chautala represents Uchana, how is he making the ‘my didi will win’ statement?” Singh told The Print Wednesday.
He added that Deb’s statement was against the spirit of the alliance and contradicted the BJP’s willingness to forge new ties with other parties. “Whenever constituencies are divided in an alliance, care is taken that the sitting MLAs are always allowed to contest from their respective constituency. But here, Deb is speaking about the victory of Prem Lata from where Dushyant Chautala won in 2019.”
The JJP leader further said he finds it surprising that while on one hand, the BJP’s top leadership has been saying that the party is open to new ties, its members are saying things like JJP is doing the BJP no favour by extending support.
Meanwhile, speaking to ThePrint Wednesday, Birender Singh said the BJP doesn’t need JJP in the 2024 elections. He also claimed that “even the JJP doesn’t want to go to polls with BJP and is looking for an appropriate issue to part ways so that it can use that issue in the upcoming polls”.
He further alleged that Dushyant and his party leaders have given enough hints in their public meetings that they will contest all the 90 seats and their aim is to win more than 45 seats needed to take the CM’s post in Haryana.
“As far as the BJP is concerned, the workers have worked hard to ensure the party wins all 10 parliamentary seats and a good majority in Haryana assembly elections to be held next year,” he added.
Talking about the alliance forged in 2019, Birender Singh said it was done under special circumstances and for a specific purpose. “In the 2019 assembly polls, the BJP got 41 seats and fell short of a simple majority. But being the single largest party in the state assembly, it was the party’s duty to provide a stable government to the people so that they don’t have to face an election again. Hence, the party went for an alliance with the JJP. The sole purpose of the alliance was to provide a stable government to the people of Haryana.”
Also Read: How Haryana quota for Backward Class sub-category in municipal polls could help BJP in 2024
In Uchana, Chautalas vs Singhs
The political rivalry between Birender Singh and the Chautala clan dates back to 2009 when Dushyant Chautala’s grandfather Om Prakash Chautala snatched Singh’s traditional bastion Uchana in 2009 — a seat he had won four times in the past.
In May 2014, when Om Prakash Chautala, as well as his son Ajay Singh Chautala, were serving jail terms in the JBT teachers’ recruitment case, Dushyant contested from Hisar parliamentary seat and became the youngest MP of the country.
Uchana is part of the Hisar parliamentary seat and Dushyant Chautala got the maximum lead from that assembly segment.
On Tuesday, the deputy CM said: “Agar kisi ko koi weham ho toh woh sun le, Uchana meri karmbhoomi hai. Mein 2019 mein wahan se chunav jeeta. 2014 mein Hisar se MP bana toh sabse zyada lead Uchana se mili. Agla chunav Uchana se hi ladunga. (If there are any misconceptions, let me clarify. Uchana is my karmbhoomi. I won from Uchana in 2019. When I became MP from Hisar in 2014, the maximum lead came from Uchana. I will contest the 2024 assembly election from Uchana itself.”
In the assembly elections held in October 2014, Dushyant contested from Uchana, but lost to Prem Lata. In the 2019 parliamentary elections, he lost the Hisar seat to Birender Singh’s son Brijendra Singh, who resigned from IAS to jump into politics. However, he avenged his defeat by winning Uchana seat against Prem Lata by over 47,000 votes.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
Also Read: BJP switches to election mode in Haryana: Amit Shah rally, drive to clinch Chautala strongholds