‘Even Ravan had a fall’ — JJP MLA Babli continues attack on Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala

JJP MLA Devender Babli has alleged irregularities in the expenditure made under various grants during Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala's stint as Tohana MLA.

File photo of JJP MLA Devender Babli | Twitter| @devender_babli

Chandigarh: The BJP-Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) alliance in Haryana seems to be on a shaky ground.

After senior JJP leader Ram Kumar Gautam resigned criticising party chief Dushyant Chautala, JJP MLA from Tohana Devender Babli has once again accused state BJP chief Subhash Barala of corruption and demanded a probe into alleged irregularities in expenditure.

Last week, independent MLA from Meham Balraj Kundu had also accused a senior BJP leader of corruption.

On Sunday, Babli — considered a close aide of Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala — reiterated his corruption charges against Barala. Speaking to a local TV channel, he pointed to alleged irregularities in expenditure made under various grants during Barala’s stint as a Tohana MLA.

Earlier this month, Babli had said Barala did little for the constituency, even as the latter claimed to have spent thousands of crores for its development.

“If some officers think they can get away by getting transferred out from this place (Tohana), it will not work. It has come to my notice that many bills were passed for works that were never carried out in the constituency. All of this will be probed,” he added.

ThePrint tried to contact Barala for his comments. This report will be updated when he responds.

Babli had defeated Barala in Tohana assembly constituency in the elections last year and is among the 10 JJP MLAs (including Dushyant Chautala) who later allied with the BJP to help form the government.

BJP had won 40 seats in the 90-member house.

Babli’s statement came days after Kundu accused senior BJP leader Manish Grover of corruption. At a press conference on 24 January, Kundu alleged losses to the tune of Rs 3,300 crore suffered by the state’s cooperative sugar mills because of a scam involving Grover.

Grover had later sent a legal notice to Kundu for criminal defamation.

Trouble brewing

This isn’t the first time that the months-old BJP-JJP alliance has suffered a major setback. Upset with the party’s functioning, senior JJP MLA Ram Kumar Gautam resigned as the party vice-president last month.

Gautam was among the founders of the JJP when it broke away from the Indian National Lok Dal last year. Going public with criticism of Dushyant, Gautam had alleged that the deal between the BJP and the JJP was signed without the deputy CM taking any of his MLAs into confidence.

Tohana MLA Babli has now said even though JJP was part of the government it didn’t mean the “wrongs” done by those in the BJP earlier could not be pointed out.

Accusing Barala of arrogance, the JJP MLA said: “Even Ravan was arrogant and power drunk, and he too had a fall. If such people are doing wrong…we will be the first to call them out. These people, who had lost the mandate of the public but continue to occupy positions of power, are trying to scare officers.”

Babli’s entire election campaign last year was focused on attacking Barala and the fact that the latter was not to fulfill the promises he had made to his electorate despite being the BJP state chief.

BJP and JJP had agreed to form the government in Haryana after Dushyant was made the deputy chief minister and his party given two additional posts — that of a cabinet minister and a minister of state.

However, besides Dushyant, the only other minister from the JJP quota in the Manohar Lal Khattar cabinet at present is Anoop Dhanak, a two-time MLA, who is looking after a low profile ministry of Archaeology and Museums (independent charge) and Labour and Employment (attached with the deputy CM) as Minister of State.