The parliamentary elections loom large, with Haryana state elections also expected later this year. During this pivotal electoral season, Dushyant Chautala's Jananayak Janata Party (JJP) appears to be caught in a burgeoning crisis. Following a ruptured alliance with BJP, now legislators are starting to abandon their support for Dushyant. The JJP is being hit hard by a series of setbacks. In the 90-member Haryana assembly, the JJP has a total of 10 MLAs, and currently, half of them have adopted a rebellious stance.
JJP's five MLAs have ignored the party whip and made their presence felt in the Haryana Assembly. Previously, Manohar Lal Khattar had resigned from the Chief Minister's position. Subsequently, Nayab Singh Saini took the oath as the new Chief Minister. Saini's government requires a vote of confidence in the assembly today. The BJP holds 41 seats in the Haryana assembly, and the ruling coalition also enjoys the support of one Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) member and six independent MLAs, boosting Saini's government's majority beyond the required 46 members.
Dushyant Chautala's JJP had issued a whip asking its MLAs to abstain from the assembly proceeding. Meanwhile, the JJP chief is holding a New Resolve Rally in Hisar. In this rally, Dushyant is expected to unveil his future strategy alongside expressing his stance on the BJP's dissolution of their alliance. The JJP had directed all its MLAs to attend the rally, but five party legislators have distanced themselves. Four of them have even violated the party whip by attending the assembly session.
The JJP legislators Jogi Ram Sihag, Ishwar Singh, Ram Kumar Gautam, and Devendra Babli attended the assembly during the government's vote of confidence. Notably, these four MLAs had also been present at Saini's oath-taking ceremony just the day before. On the same day as Saini's swearing-in, Dushyant had convened a meeting of his MLAs in Delhi, which these lawmakers chose to skip and are now staying away from the Hisar rally as well.
As the assembly proceedings kicked off, the echo of change in power was palpable. Leader of the Opposition Raghuvir Singh suggested that Khattar was not removed from the CM post due to anti-incumbency but because he was fighting against corruption at the top level. He likened Khattar's removal from the chief ministerial position to Draupadi's disrobing incident.
