Law and order deteriorating, Haryana needs full-time home minister: Dushyant

Taking on the Nayab Singh Saini-led BJP government for failing to maintain law and order in Haryana, Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader and former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala on Thursday demanded that the state should have “a full-time home minister”.

“The law and order situation in the past one week has deteriorated alarmingly in every district. This proves that the Haryana chief minister as home minister has completely failed. We demand that the state should have a full-time home minister. The chief minister has not been able to pay attention to law and order,” Chautala said in his first press conference since the humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.

The vote share of the JJP, which was the coalition partner of the BJP in the state till March, came down to 0.87% in the recent Lok Sabha elections as compared to 4.9% in the 2019 parliamentary polls.

According to Chautala, the JJP suffered a setback because of its alliance with the BJP that is facing “strong anti-incumbency”. He admitted that the JJP bore the brunt of the anger of farmers. “Genhu ke saath ghun bhi pista hai,” he said, adding that the JJP will not ally with the BJP in the assembly elections. “People were angry with the BJP. We suffered because of our alliance with the BJP. We will not join hands with the BJP,” he said.

Continuing his attack over law and order, Chautala said the state had not seen such heinous crimes in 20 years that it had witnessed over the past week. He said a couple was murdered in a park at Hansi, while criminals had the audacity to open fire at public places in broad daylight.

“Former home minister Anil Vij was a better home minister. Chief minister Saini has failed as home minister. Anti-social elements are roaming freely,” he said.

The JJP will hold meetings with its workers across the state to seek feedback and rebuild the organisation in the run-up to the assembly elections due in October.