New Delhi: Manohar Lal Khattar is doing good work in Haryana but it’s still early to say whether he will be Bharatiya Janta Party’s (BJP) chief ministerial face for a third time, said BJP parliamentary board member Dr Sudha Yadav. In an interview with ThePrint, she also spoke about the future of the BJP’s alliance with Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), adding that it will depend on “samay aur samikaran” (time and equation).
“M.L. Khattar is our current CM, he has delivered transparent governance and cut down on corruption in government jobs, but it is too soon to talk about him being the face of the government in the next assembly elections,” said the former Member of Parliament from Mahendragarh.
Yadav, who hails from Haryana’s Rewari, was inducted into the BJP’s top decision-making body in August — the only woman in the 11-member parliamentary board, as was the case with former Union minister late Sushma Swaraj.
“Nobody knows which member of the party will get what responsibility but many party workers get various responsibilities while working, so I am grateful to the senior leadership for showing faith in me,” she said.
Yadav added that the BJP has always given priority to women leaders and that while the appointment is made by the President, more women governors have assumed office during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure. The PM is sensitive about the issue, she said.
On the BJP-JJP alliance in Haryana, she said her party does not leave its allies behind but will strive for a majority on its own in the 2024 assembly polls. “We need to strengthen the party, expand its reach and do better in constituencies where we could not do well last time,” Yadav said.
Falling short of the halfway mark in the 90-member assembly, the BJP (with 40 seats) had entered into a post-poll alliance with the JJP (with 10 seats) to form a government in Haryana in 2019.
Also Read: 4-time Haryana MLA lashes out at own party CM Manohar Lal Khattar, pushes for Brahmin CM
Where Opposition stands, BJP’s internal politics
As for the opposition in Haryana, Yadav said: “Congress had performed decently last time, but as of now, they cannot even decide who will be their [state unit] president. Even in Rajasthan, where they have a full majority, they cannot hide their internal differences.”
“The Chautala family [Indian National Lok Dal] only has one MLA, and so, it is difficult to see them winning ahead. If we talk about the third front, I found it very amusing that Om Prakash Chautala, whose party has always played anti-Congress politics, was asked to speak with Bhupender Singh Hooda.”
Asked about Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) foray into the state, she said that the “voter in Haryana is smart and practical and won’t get swayed by freebies promised by the AAP”.
Yadav also reacted to Union Minister of State (MoS) and five-time MP Rao Inderjit Singh’s call for a “Battle of Panipat” at a rally in south Haryana last year. Singh, a prominent leader from the Ahirwal region who was with the Congress until 2014, had said he was a “mass leader” and not a “parachute leader” — his remark was seen in the context of then newly appointed Union minister Bhupender Yadav’s Jan Ashirwad Yatra in the Ahirwal region.
“The party made him [Singh] an MP, even his choice of MLAs were given tickets and made ministers. So, I don’t think there are any signs of rebellion, but it is true that those politicians who come from Congress have a different working style,” Yadav told ThePrint.
Yadav was first elected to Parliament in 1999 by defeating Singh, who was then with the Congress, from Mahendragarh seat. But Singh made a comeback by defeating Yadav in the 2004 and 2009 parliamentary elections from Mahendragarh and Gurugram (earlier Gurgaon) seats, respectively.
On the purported feud between Haryana CM Manohar Lal and state Home minister Anil Vij, Yadav said that people only see one side of their rapport, and often overlook the friendship between the two leaders. “Anil Vij is a candid person and speaks his mind, but he has never gone against the party in the past eight years and that is his track record,” she said.
Vij had claimed in December last year that he offered to resign as a minister when he found out that the Urban Local Bodies department had been assigned to a newly-inducted minister and after he was reportedly told he may be divested of the home portfolio.
‘Narendra bhai convinced me to join politics’
For Yadav, who has a PhD in Chemistry from IIT Roorkee, becoming an academic was a natural choice. “But my life changed after my husband, a Deputy Commandant in BSF [Border Security Force], was martyred in the Kargil war. This change in my life took me to the direction of social service and after that I entered politics,” she said.
She recalled how it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP in charge of Haryana in 1999, who convinced her to take the plunge into politics.
“Narendra bhai was the Haryana in charge and Atal ji’s government had collapsed due to one vote. Elections were to be held again. Naturally, every seat was important and so planning was going on. Mahendragarh Lok Sabha was with [former CM] Rao Birender’s family and they were dominating that seat. It was felt that a new face should be brought in. The area is an army-belt and maximum martyrs in Kargil war were from that area, so a new face needed to be found and I was fortunate that the BJP chose me,” she said.
“After three-four rounds of talks, Narendra bhai convinced me that I should come into politics and dedicate my life to the service of the nation. He addressed party workers and said that since I had a defence background, I had no means to fight the election. He donated the first amount [Rs 11] and appealed for donation. Within an hour, Rs 7.5 lakh had been collected and I could fight that election,” she added.
Yadav also spoke about how she was hoping for a ticket in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections but the party fielded Rao Inderjit Singh instead.
“Naturally, I was expecting to get the ticket but the party was changing. New people were joining at that time and I could not get a ticket amid those political equations. However, I still kept working for the party”.
After her stint as MP from Mahendragarh, Yadav also served as spokesperson of Haryana BJP, national in-charge of the party’s OBC Morcha and member of the National Commission for Backward Classes.
Asked about her future plans, Yadav said she doesn’t think about contesting elections and will focus on what her party asks her to do. “I have been only doing what the BJP wants me to do for the past 23 years. Whatever the party decides, I will proceed with that,” she said.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: BJP ex-CMs, ministers back in national roles — Rupani, Javadekar among party’s new state in-charges