Haryana assembly elections 2019: Dushyant Chautala’s JJP may prove to be kingmaker

The fledgling Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) of former Hisar member of Parliament, Dushyant Singh Chautala, could prove to be the kingmaker if the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana falls short of a simple majority.

Going by the initial trends, the ruling BJP looks to be falling short of a majority in the 90 member Haryana assembly. A party needs 46 seats to form the government in Haryana.

The JJP, which is an offshoot of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), seems to have completely appropriated the Jat vote bank of the INLD. The JJP was formed following an acrimony in Chautala clan when the former chief minister expelled his son Ajay Chautala and grandson, Dushyant Chautala, from the INLD for “anti-party activities”.

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The JJP was formed by Dushyant Chautala in December 2018 under the guidance of his father Ajay Chautala, who is serving a 10-year sentence in a corruption case. The party surprised everyone in Jind bypoll held earlier this year, as they finished runner up to the BJP.

Positioning itself as the inheritor of the legacy of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal (Dushyant’s great grandfather), it is unclear whether the JJP will align with the BJP or the Congress in the case of a hung verdict.