JJP rebels Jogi Ram Sihag, Ramniwas Surjakhera resign from assembly, set to join BJP
While Jogi Ram Sihag represented Barwala segment of Hisar district, Ramniwas Surjakhera Surjakhera was elected from Narwana assembly constituency of Jind district. Both the MLAs had raised the banner of revolt against former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala and supported Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates during the Lok Sabha election though JJP had also fielded its candidates
Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) rebel lawmakers Jogi Ram Sihag and Ramniwas Surjakhera resigned from Haryana Vidhan Sabha on Thursday.
While Sihag represented Barwala segment of Hisar district, Surjakhera was elected from Narwana assembly constituency of Jind district. Both the MLAs had raised the banner of revolt against former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala and supported Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates during the Lok Sabha election though JJP had also fielded its candidates.
Later, the JJP filed a petition before the Speaker, seeking disqualification of the rebel MLAs under the anti-defection law for anti-party activities.
In a single line resignation letters addressed to Speaker Gian Chand Gupta, Sihag and Surjakhera stated that they were resigning from their respective seats in the assembly with effect from Thursday.
It is learnt that the duo may join the BJP soon.
“I have resigned from the primary membership of the party as well as a Vidhan Sabha member,” Surjakhera said.
Hitting out at former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, he said,
“The JJP is being run like a family-based party where the voice of MLAs is not being heard. On many occasions in the past, many decisions were taken unilaterally, and we were not consulted.
So much so, when senior leaders of the party used to hold a rally or big function, we were not kept in the loop,” he told PTI.
On Wednesday, apart from Sihag and Surjakhera, other JJP rebel MLAs Ram Kumar Gautam and Anoop Dhanak had extended support to BJP’s Rajya Sabha nominee Kiran Choudhry when she filed her nomination.
Surjakhera claimed that he and the three other legislators will be joining the BJP in the next few days.
Last week, JJP MLAs Anoop Dhanak, Ram Karan Kala, Devender Babli and Ishwar Singh had also quit the party citing personal reasons.
Shahabad MLA Kala joined the Congress on Wednesday in the presence of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
The JJP had won 10 seats in the 2019 assembly elections. Now, it is left with three MLAs – former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala who represents Uchana Kalan, his mother Naina Chautala and Julana MLA Amarjeet Dhanda.
Another MLA, Ram Kumar Gautam from Narnaund assembly segment has been a vocal critique of former deputy CM Chautala as he was nursing the grouse of not getting a cabinet berth after BJP-JJP stitched post-poll alliance in October 2019 which continued till mid-March 2024. The BJP dumped its ally the JJP and appointed Nayab Singh Saini as chief minister replacing ML Khattar, ending the four-and-a-half years old alliance with JJP.
(With agency inputs)
