Chandigarh: The BJP’s Haryana coalition partner JJP is preparing to contest all 10 parliamentary seats in the event the ruling party at the Centre decides against the alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Deputy Chief Minister and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala has indicated, in an interview with ThePrint.
At present, the BJP holds all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, BJP’s Brijendra Singh had defeated Dushyant from Hisar. However, after the assembly elections the same year, the BJP and JJP entered into an alliance. While the two parties have remained strong partners in the state government, their leaders have been upping the ante about a year ahead of the Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
“In the past three and a half years, this is the only question that the media has asked me: ‘Till when will the BJP-JJP alliance continue? Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and I have made it clear on multiple occasions that the alliance is intact, and only getting stronger. We entered into the alliance with the aim to make Haryana a more progressive state…we worked on new projects…,” Dushyant said.
He added: “We saw the Covid crisis, farmers’ agitations, but there was not a single instance when people saw the alliance partners speak in different voices…we worked together to mitigate people’s problems.”
Reacting to the back and forth between the allies over the Uchana seat, the deputy CM said, “All political parties have their vision. The governments work on one level and the party organisations work on another level. The BJP is preparing for the polls with all the 10 parliamentary seats in mind, and so are we.”
“The alliance for the polls will happen only after discussions. The decisions made for the parliamentary elections will be carried forward to the assembly polls,” said Dushyant.
JJP’s national president Ajay Singh Chautala (Dushyant’s father) held two meetings with party functionaries and legislators Monday at the deputy CM’s official residence where it was decided that a rally will be held in Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s stronghold Sonipat on 2 July.
Similar rallies will be held at other parliamentary seats in the coming months, he said.
Elaborating on why the party was preparing for all Lok Sabha seats in the state despite its alliance with the BJP, he said, “Growing up, I recall how the INLD (the JJP was launched in 2018 after a split in the Indian National Lok Dal) and the BJP prepare for all the 10 seats in 2000. Later, they settled for five seats each.”
“We have seen the BJP offering CM’s post to Nitish Kumarji (in Bihar) though his party had fewer MLAs. We have seen Shiromani Akali Dal continuing its alliance with the BJP for decades despite everyone thinking the ties won’t last,” he added.
“We have also seen Shiv Sena continuing its alliance with the BJP (in Maharashtra) for several decades and then suddenly going with bitter opponents. What was that larger interest that made these parties do what they did we can’t predict (sic). We took a decision to form an alliance to provide a stable government to the people of Haryana, and we have succeeded.”
When his attention was drawn to some BJP leaders claiming that the alliance was formed for a stable government alone, Dushyant said, “I have been meeting BJP’s central leaders in Delhi…For Delhi assembly elections, we only supported the BJP which contested…we have Rajasthan elections soon. We don’t have an alliance with the BJP there, though we are part of the NDA (in the central government).”
“We can take a state-specific decision while continuing in an alliance in Haryana. This has happened in the past as well,” he added.
Meanwhile, on the sexual harassment allegations against benched chief of the Wrestling Federation of India and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Dushyant said that though he supports the athletes, he cannot intervene as the issue isn’t being dealt with in Haryana.
“There is a saying in Haryana, ‘Lariyo jhagadiyo, chhotki bahu pe aakar badiyo’ which means that no matter who fights in the family, the blame falls on the youngest daughter-in-law,” he added.
Also read: Khattar takes swipe at JJP MLA, but says ‘alliance for public good, will continue’
‘Protests only in Haryana’
Asked about farmers blocking the NH-44 over Minimum Support Price for sunflower crop, Dushyant said, “Sunflower isn’t a Haryana-specific crop. It is grown in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and some other states too. Due to market factors, the price of sunflower has slashed to nearly Rs 4,000 per quintal.”
He further said: “The Haryana State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (HAFED) is purchasing it for Rs 4,850 (The government has since hiked this to Rs. 5,000 per quintal) and the state government is also paying Rs 1,000 per quintal under Bhawantar Bharpai Yojna (BBY). Neither Punjab nor Uttar Pradesh is giving any such relief. Farmers in these states are getting nearly Rs 4,000 per quintal for their crop and we are paying Rs 1,850 more per quintal.”
Yet, highways are being blocked in Haryana, remarked the deputy CM. “Farmers from Punjab and UP don’t hold any agitation in their own state but come to Haryana to block roads. It’s easy to hold protests. Even I, as an Opposition MP from Hisar, went to Parliament riding a tractor as a mark of protest in 2017. But that protest was for the farming community as the government had tweaked certain provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act against their interests.”
On his stand on the wrestlers’ protest, he said, “Wrestlers are from Haryana, the FIR has been lodged in Delhi, the man against whom allegations have been made is an MP from Uttar Pradesh…Tomorrow, if I try to intervene and I am not able to help the wrestlers the way they expect me to, I will unnecessarily land in an awkward situation.”
He said a First Information Report has been filed in the case, even though it was delayed a little, and that justice will be done.
“As far as wrestlers’ expectations from me are concerned, Sakshee Malikkh met me at Mokhra village with a request for a government job, for which she is eligible under the government’s policy. She wanted a job in some university so that she can train younger people.”
“I spoke to the vice chancellors of Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, and Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Sonipat and requested them to create a post of deputy director in their university in their executive council meeting and I will get the approvals at the government level. I think one of these universities has already created a post,” said Dushyant.
He refused to comment on his uncle Abhay Singh Chautala or his Parivartan padyatra.
‘Happy where I am’
Responding to LoP Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s allegations that the BJP-JJP government is a ‘2P (portal and police) govt’, and has been harassing people using these two, the JJP leader said it is with the help of portals that people of Haryana were able to download their ration cards and jamabandi (revenue records) of their agriculture land, and the government has been able to provide time-bound services to people.
He said that Hooda should spare some time to learn working on portals when the state Vidhan Sabha holds training sessions for MLAs rather than criticising the present government.
Dushyant’s party faced its first general election for state assembly in October 2019, within 10 months of its launch and he became the deputy CM. Asked where he sees himself after the 2024 assembly polls, he said he will be happy with whatever responsibility people of the state hand over to him.
“Aise to main soch loon ki kal main Amreeka ka rashtrapati ban jaaoon. Par aise nahi hota. Mein MP tha, tab bhi khush tha, aur aaj jahan hoon, wahan bhi khush hoon (I may want to become the president of the US but things don’t work that way. I was happy being an MP and am happy where I am).”
“When I go to sleep at night, I am satisfied that I did something to mitigate the problems of the people. I am happy with that,” he added.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
Also read: ‘Girls don’t come to train anymore’ — in Haryana hinterland, anger brews over treatment of wrestlers