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A day after the Congress and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) stepped up efforts to topple the BJP government in Haryana and wrote to governor Bandaru Dattatreya, JJP MLAs led by former minister Devender Babli, who represents Tohana, said they will replace Dushyant Chautala as the legislature party leader and stake claim to the party. The development assumes significance in view of the opposition’s demand for summoning the assembly session to introduce a no-confidence motion.
Babli said Dushyant had written to Dattatreya, demanding a floor test on behalf of JJP MLAs. “When eight of the 10 JJP legislators are against Dushyant, how can he write to the governor without meeting them?” Babli said.
“Dushyant has the support of only his mother, Badhra MLA Naina Chautala. The rest of the MLAs are in favour of changing him. He should resign as legislature party leader otherwise the other MLAs will sack him. We have the support of eight MLAs. After the 2019 assembly poll result, Dushyant supported the BJP and ran a government for four-and-a-half years. As deputy CM, he enjoyed a majority of portfolios and now he wants to topple the BJP government. How did his ideology change? Now he is backing the Congress that he used to term as his biggest enemy,” Babli said.
Rebels to meet soon
Sources close to rebel JJP MLAs said they will be meeting soon to challenge Dushyant’s leadership. They said that Thursday’s meeting of three JJP MLAs with former chief minister and Karnal BJP Lok Sabha candidate Manohar Lal Khattar was held to discuss this issue. “The rebel MLAs are of the opinion that they will run the party after staking claim on it by following the path of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal,” the sources said.
The rebel JJP MLAs said that they will decide whether to support the BJP government or vote against it when a non-confidence motion is brought in the assembly.
“Before the floor test, we will change our legislature party leader. We will take a decision on whom to support when the no-confidence motion is introduced,” said another rebel JJP MLA, requesting anonymity.
Of the 10 JJP MLAs, Babli, Barwala legislator Jogi Ram Sihag, Narnaund MLA Ram Kumar Gautam and Narwana MLA Ram Niwas Surjakhera are leading the rebellion and are in touch with the BJP leadership. However, Dushyant still has the support of Julana MLA Amarjeet Dhanda, Uklana MLA Anoop Dhanak, who is undergoing treatment at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram and his mother Naina Chautala. The family members of the other two MLAs, Ram Karan Kala and Ishwar Singh, have joined the Congress.
‘Jannayak to khalnayak’
Babli alleged that Dushyant had become a ‘khalnayak (villain)’ and his family had made the JJP “a private limited company”. “The party has used the Jannayak word from Devi Lal but Dushyant has become Khalnayak. Eight JJP MLAs and the people of Haryana are against him because of his arrogance and dictatorship. He used to question us whenever we attended any social function organised by other party leaders. After becoming deputy chief minister, he remained distanced himself from party MLAs. The voters elected us, we are MLAs not bonded labour. Dushyant and his father and JJP chief, Ajay Chautala, use rough language against us in public but they can’t suppress our voice,” Babli said.
When contacted, JJP general secretary Digvijay Singh Chautala said that the party legislators were standing with Dushyant and such claims are false and baseless.
In the 90-member assembly, two seats are vacant, of which Karnal is headed for by-elections on May 25.
The BJP has 40 members, and has the support of two independents — Nayan Pal Rawat from Prithla and Rakesh Daulatabad from Badshahpur — and Gopal Kanda of the Haryana Lokhit Party. That takes it to 43, two short of the majority mark of 45 in the assembly that currently has a strength of 88.
The Congress has 30 lawmakers, the JJP 10, and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) one. In addition, one independent legislator, Balraj Kundu from Meham, is also against the government.
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