In Haryana, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) are on the cusp of ending their four-year coalition. In Chandigarh, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has called a meeting of the legislative assembly. CM Khattar has invited not only BJP legislators but also independent members to the meeting. Observers Arjun Munda and Tarun Chugh have been sent from Delhi to oversee the legislative meeting in Chandigarh. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, who is in Delhi, has also convened a meeting of JJP MLAs.
The discord over seat-sharing in the Lok Sabha elections has escalated to the point that the separation of the ally parties now seems almost certain. After failed talks with BJP President JP Nadda over seat-sharing, JJP chief Dushyant Chautala is scheduled to meet Home Minister Amit Shah this evening, March 12. This meeting, critical for the future of the coalition, is seemingly turning into a mere formality as the alliance appears to be heading for dissolution.
CM Khattar has met not only the sole legislator of the Haryana Lokhit Party, Gopal Kanda, but also several independent MLAs. Gopal Kanda has stated that from his perspective, the BJP-JJP alliance has already broken. This raises questions about the stability of BJP's governance after JJP's potential exit. The magic number for a majority in the 90-member Haryana Assembly is 46 legislators.
Haryana Assembly Number Game
In the Haryana Assembly, BJP has 41 members, which is five short of the required 46 for a majority. With Congress as the second-largest party holding 30 seats and JJP with 10, the Haryana Lokhit Party and the Indian National Lok Dal each have one member, alongside seven independents.
With its 41 members, BJP also has the support of the sole HLP legislator and six of the seven independents, bringing the government's strength to two above the magical number of 46, totaling 48. Even without JJP, the BJP-led government doesn't face immediate danger, but remains just at the threshold of majority. If three independent legislators were to break away, the government could be at risk.
