Rebel JJP MLA Gautam announce to contest Haryana assembly polls

Rebel Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) MLA from Narnaund Ram Kumar Gautam on Saturday announced to contest the upcoming assembly polls. However, he did not reveal from which party he would fight the election.

He clarified that he will not stay with the JJP as he made distance from the party nearly three months after the 2019 assembly polls and did not attend any of the party’s programmes in the last four and half years.

Addressing his workers in Hisar’s Narnaund, Gautam hit out at former Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala and accused him of giving priority to money instead of doing people’s work.

“With our support, the JJP managed to win 10 seats in the 2019 assembly polls and Dushyant enjoyed the power as we won on his party’s symbol. When Dushyant became deputy chief minister, I realised that I couldn’t work with him. Dushyant gave priority to money. He and his brother, Digvijay, came to my house and offered me a ticket from Narnaund because they know my potential that helped them in winning nine other seats,” he added.

Earlier, Gautam had announced that he will not contest any election in the future citing his age.

The rebel JJP MLA further alleged that he met Dushyant several times and requested him to approve a bypass in Narnaund but he did not pay heed to his demands.

“I also met former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar for the bypass but he also turned his eyes closed on my long-pending demand. During a Samvad programme in Narnaund, I raised several issues like upgrading Bass Village PHC to CHC but Khattar did not work on our demands. The BJP government introduced several online portals, which are creating hurdles for people,” he added.

Gautam said he will contest the upcoming assembly polls because he has to do several works for his workers and constituency.

“ This time I was a weak MLA because I had contested the election from the wrong party. This time, I will become a strong MLA and complete the pending work in my area. When I was opposition MLA, the then chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda accepted my demands and built a government college at Narnaund and ITI in Majra village,” he added.

In the 2019 assembly polls, JJP won 10 seats and became the junior coalition partner of the BJP. Now out of ten JJP MLAs, six MLAs had announced not to continue with the JJP.