3 days after Sirsa rally, Amit Shah holds meeting with top Haryana BJP leaders

Amid rumblings between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) over the fate of their alliance and three days after Sirsa rally, Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday held a lengthy meeting with top Haryana BJP leaders in Delhi.

Present in this meeting were BJP’s national president Jagat Prakash Nadda, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana BJP in-charge Biplab Kumar Deb, and Haryana BJP president Om Prakash Dhankar.

The Wednesday’s meeting assumes significance as it was held in the backdrop of Sirsa rally of Amit Shah on June 18 and earlier Haryana BJP in-charge Biplab Kumar Deb holding meetings with Independent MLAs which had triggered a fresh debate over the fate of the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP-JJP coalition government.

Dhankar said the meeting was convened to discuss issues related to Mission-2024 of the BJP.

“No discussion whatsoever regarding BJP-JJP alliance in Haryana was held in this meeting. The alliance is doing fine,” Dhankar told HT over the phone, responding to a question.

On the other hand, a section of Haryana BJP leaders privy to the latest developments said that the central leadership is seeking inputs about the functioning of the state government and the “adverse impact” on electoral prospects of the BJP in Haryana if the saffron party continues its alliance with the JJP.

“The Haryana BJP leadership has been repeatedly apprising the central BJP leaders against running the state government with the support of the JJP,” said a BJP leader.

The BJP functionary pointed out that the feedback of the state party unit to the party leaders in Delhi has been that people are turning against the BJP in Haryana because of the JJP ‘s “poor performance” and the perception that the JJP is “compromising with zero-tolerance against corruption” promise of the BJP.

About a week back, when former Tripura chief minister and now Haryana BJP in-charge Deb stated that JJP did not do any favour to the BJP by supporting it as the junior coalition partner had also joined the government clearly added fuel to the issue about future of BJP-JJP alliance.

Not just this, Deb also met four independent MLAs Dharam Pal Gonder (Nilokheri), Rakesh Daultabad (Badshahpur), Randhir Singh Gollen (Pundri) and Sombir Sangwan (Dadri) in Delhi, apart from another MLA, Gopal Kanda of the Lokhit Party.

After reaching Chandigarh, Deb also held talks with Independent MLA and cabinet minister Ranjit Singh Chautala and speaker Gian Chand Gupta. His meetings sent out a message that the BJP was exploring other options to run the government without JJP support.

The BJP had stitched an alliance with the JJP in the wake of fractured mandate in October 2019 Haryana assembly elections. Then the BJP with 40 seats (now 41) had emerged as the single largest party short of six MLAs to cross the magical halfway mark in the 90-member Vidhan Sabha. The JJP has 10 MLAs.

The JJP, which was formed in December 2018, is a breakaway faction of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).

The BJP has been non-committal on whether it will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha and later assembly polls in an alliance with the JJP.

“Why should the BJP suffer due to the wrong deeds of the JJP? That’s the issue bothering the state unit of the party. Every option is being explored to duck and deflect the impact of anti-incumbency ahead of Lok Sabha elections in 2024,” said another BJP leader quoted above.

On the other hand, in a recent interview to HT, JJP national president Ajay Singh Chautala had stated that both BJP and the JJP needed each other equally so that the coalition government could fulfil the poll promises and keep Congress away from power.