Chandigarh: Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala’s “I am not an astrologer” response to a question on the future of the alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and his Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) has raised eyebrows ahead of next year’s assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
“I am not an astrologer. I cannot say what will happen in the future,” Chautala said at a press conference Saturday. He, however, added that “as of today, we have an alliance with the BJP and it is working well”, and that “the state has progressed well during the BJP-JJP regime”.
The doubts are not just restricted to the JJP camp. The BJP too has hinted at going solo. In January, Union Minister Amit Shah had declared at a rally in Gohana that the “lotus (BJP’s symbol) will bloom on all 10 (Lok Sabha) seats in Haryana”.
While the Lok Sabha poll is due in May next year, the assembly election in Haryana is scheduled to be held before October 2024.
Dushyant Chautala has, however, put up a brave face and in January announced that the BJP and JJP will fight the next election together.
Speaking to ThePrint, he said, “As far as the next year’s elections are concerned, we are preparing for all the 10 Lok Sabha seats. Every party aspires to increase its number of seats in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha, and with that in mind, we are trying to strengthen our base in all the seats.”
He further explained, “I once heard Prime Minister Narendra Modi say that there was a time when the BJP won just two seats, but today the party has 300. No party will like itself to be limited to its present status in the Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha. We have 10 seats in the state assembly, but shall we be limiting ourselves to this number? Similarly, will the BJP like to keep itself to its present 40 seats in the state assembly?”
In the 2019 assembly polls, the BJP had won 40 seats, falling short of a majority in the 90-member Haryana Vidhan Sabha. The party then formed a government with the JJP, which had won 10 seats. In the Lok Sabha election held the same year, BJP had won all 10 seats while the JJP, which had contested in an alliance with the AAP, drew a blank.
Speaking to ThePrint, JJP state president Nishan Singh too said that the BJP-JJP alliance is working well. “We contested the elections separately in 2019. After the results, the two parties joined hands and our coalition is working well and will continue for five years.”
He added that ahead of elections, “we will sit together to explore the possibilities of fighting it together”.
“If our party aspires to broaden its base in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha, it is not necessary for us to do that by contesting separately alone, it can be done within the coalition too,” said the JJP leader.
When ThePrint contacted O. P. Dhankar seeking a response to Dushyant Chautala’s “not an astrologer” remark, the former said: “The elections are too far, so the question is not relevant today.”
Explaining the possible reasons behind such posturing, Yoginder Gupta, a commentator on Haryana politics, said there is nothing new about alliance partners resorting to this ahead of elections.
“All political parties indulge in hard bargaining ahead of elections so that they can get a better share in the alliance. This is what the BJP leaders are doing when they tell workers to prepare for all the 10 seats. What Dushyant said on Saturday is also an effort to convey a message that he can’t be taken as a pushover,” Gupta told ThePrint.
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Hooda vs Chautala
Dushyant Chautala’s reaction at Saturday’s press conference came as he faced another obstacle — a war of words with Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Deepender Hooda.
The spat began when JJP chief general secretary Digvijay Singh Chautala, Dushyant’s younger brother, on 7 April clarified the party’s stand as to why it chose the BJP over Congress-led Hooda for an alliance after the 2019 assembly election, a move contested by Deepender Hooda.
Addressing the student wing of his party, Digvijay Chautala last week said that after the 2019 assembly polls, Dushyant could have supported Hooda had the latter agreed to implement five major poll promises of the JJP.
He claimed that Hooda refused to do so, but Union Minister Amit Shah agreed, and hence, the JJP extended support to the BJP.
In the 2019 assembly polls, the BJP had secured 40 seats, Congress 31, JJP 10, INLD 1, and the remaining 8 seats went to the Independents. Chautala’s party had the choice to either support the BJP or the Congress led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda to form government.
Deepender Hooda replied to this during Vipaksh Aapke Samaksh at Yamunanagar Sunday. Contesting Digvijay’s claims, he said he wondered how the JJP has suddenly realised after four years that it had offered support to the Congress. Terming Digvijay’s claims false, he said the JJP was now making such comments because it realises that people are with Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Explaining the significance of the spat, political observers told ThePrint it was because both Hoodas and Chautalas have the same support base in Haryana — the dominant caste Jats, who aren’t known to have much affinity towards the BJP.
During his public meetings, Dushyant Chautala has reportedly been telling people that though he is part of the government, he has not been able to fulfill his pre-poll promises like hike of old-age pension to Rs 5,100 per month, 75 per cent quota in private jobs, etc., because people gave him just 10 seats.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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