Gurugram: Within hours of the Election Commission announcing Haryana assembly election dates, Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) MLA from Uklana Anoop Dhanak’s resignation landed in the WhatsApp messages of top party leaders and the WhatsApp groups of Haryana journalists.
On Saturday morning, resignations of more JJP MLAs started trickling in. With these resignations, and leaders like Ramniwas Surjakhera, Jogi Ram Sihag, and Ram Kumar Gautam having distanced themselves from the party, the JJP is left with just three MLAs — former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala (Uchana), his mother Naina Chautala (Badhra), and Amarjeet Dhanda (Julana).
Dhanak, considered one of Dushyant’s most trusted lieutenants in the JJP, had taken oath as a minister of state (MoS) in the BJP-JJP government in November 2019. He remained a minister till Manohar Lal Khattar resigned on 12 March this year and Nayab Saini took over as the new CM without the support of JJP.
On Saturday, the party received the resignation letters of JJP MLAs Ishwar Singh (Guhla), Ram Karan Kala (Shahbad) and Devender Babli (Tohana). With these developments, turmoil has erupted within the JJP, just months ahead of the assembly polls.
MLAs Ishwar Singh and Ram Karan Kala cited personal reasons in their letters addressed to JJP chief Ajay Chautala.
Meanwhile, Tohana MLA Devender Babli told ThePrint that after he made up his mind to leave the JJP in March this year, he left it to his workers to decide his future course of action. “The workers were duly asked to give their feedback through a secret ballot. Based on their will, I supported the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls,” he said.
Contacted by ThePrint, Randhir Singh Jhajhra, officer secretary of JJP in the party’s Chandigarh office, said there was nothing surprising about the resignations of Ishwar Singh, Ram Karan Kala and Devender Babli as they “were already working against the party during the parliamentary elections, and had supported Congress candidates in their respective constituencies”.
He further said that the party had issued notices to these MLAs for working against the party. Kala has responded to the notice, stating that he was not affiliated with any other party.
“During the Lok Sabha elections, we had moved a petition against Ramniwas Surjakhera and Jogi Ram Sihag with the assembly Speaker for their disqualification as MLAs as they had attended BJP candidates’ programmes in Sirsa and Hisar constituencies respectively. Singh, Kala, and Babli kept a low profile fearing similar action. With the elections announced on Friday, their resignations are not a surprise for the party,” said Jhanjhra.
He however admitted that Dhanak’s resignation has come as a shock, but the party had information that “the BJP has lured him by assuring him a ticket in the coming elections”.
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The meltdown of the JJP began after its alliance with the BJP broke. The party was launched in 2018 as an offshoot of Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), after Dushyant and Digvijay Chautala, sons of then-jailed former MP Ajay Singh Chautala, walked out following differences with their father’s younger brother Abhay Singh Chautala. The JJP lost its first election, a bypoll for Jind assembly, and could not open an account in the 2019 Lok Sabha election either.
However, in the 2019 assembly elections, the JJP won 10 seats. The BJP, which fell short of a majority after winning 40 seats in the 90-member assembly, formed a government in coalition with the JJP.
During that time, Manohar Lal became the chief minister, and Dushyant Chautala his deputy. Anoop Dhanak was made the minister of state for labour and employment from the JJP quota, and Devender Babli was made the minister of panchayati raj in December 2021 during a cabinet expansion.
When the BJP and JJP’s alliance ended ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, there was an exodus in the latter, beginning with the resignation of the party’s state president Nishan Singh, who later joined the Congress.
With Singh’s resignation, a mass exit of party workers began forcing the JJP to dismantle all its organisational units.
During the Lok Sabha polls, in which the JJP had fielded Dushyant Chautala’s mother Naina Singh Chautala from Hisar, seven out of 10 JJP MLAs skipped the party’s campaign.
Ramniwas Surjakhera and Jogi Ram Sihag were seen at BJP programmes in Sirsa and Hisar Lok Sabha constituencies respectively. The JJP issued notices to both MLAs and filed a petition with the Speaker to cancel their membership. The petition is still pending before the Speaker.
Ishwar Singh and Ram Karan Kala were said to be working for the Congress by proxy as their sons joined the party. Babli, though he didn’t join the Congress, supported the party’s Sirsa candidate Kumari Selja.
Ram Kumar Gautam, the 78-year-old JJP MLA from Narnaund, fell out with Dushyant Chautala the day the latter took oath as deputy CM, for not considering his name as a minister in the Khattar cabinet.
Gautam remained highly critical of Dushyant inside the state assembly and outside too.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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