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BJP intensifies outreach to Jat community ahead of Haryana polls
The BJP welcomed former Congress legislator Kiran Choudhary and her daughter Shruti Choudhary, a former parliamentarian, into the party fold
New Delhi: A setback in Haryana, where it lost half of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the recently concluded general elections, has sent the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on an overdrive to woo the politically significant Jat community in a bid to secure its position for the state assembly polls scheduled for later this year.
Party leaders aware of the details have cited feedback from the cadre and the recent poll setback — the party had won all 10 seats in 2019 — as reasons for the BJP, which has focussed on non-Jat communities to fortify its presence in the northern state, now looking to promote Jat faces.
On Wednesday, the BJP welcomed former Congress legislator Kiran Choudhary and her daughter Shruti Choudhary, a former parliamentarian, into the party fold.
“Today I took this decision because of Prime Minister, who has pledged a developed India by 2047. I have full faith that India will shine in the world. The public welfare work done by the Prime Minister has led to the formation of a BJP government in Delhi for the third time,” Kiran Choudhary said after joining the BJP.
Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, former chief minister and now Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar and BJP national general secretary Tarun Chug were present on the occasion.
“I have worked a lot with Khattar ji. There used to be a lot of bitterness between us. But the way he worked has been my source of inspiration,” she added.
Kiran and Shruti Choudhary come from a politically influential Jat family and their patriarch Bansi Lal, was a former Haryana chief minister and former defence minister.
The joining on Wednesday is in line with the BJP’s outreach towards Jats, who make up for about 20-25% of the state’s population.
“The party had made a conscious decision of consolidating the other castes in the state when it won the assembly polls in 2014 and appointed Khattar as CM. In 2019, we fell short of numbers and tied up with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), but as we head into elections later this year, there is a shift in our approach,” a party functionary said, requesting anonymity.
The appointment of Saini, an OBC, as chief minister replacing Khattar, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls did not help quell the anger among the Jat community over being overlooked for positions in the government, the functionary said. Saini’s appointment was expected to cement the party’s ties with the OBCs that make up for 21% of the population.
“The major takeaway from the LS polls is that the party failed to assuage the concerns of the Jat community, whether it was the issue of Jat reservation, farm laws that were rolled back after a year of protest, the treatment meted out to sportspersons, particularly women wrestlers, and the distress over shrinking defence services jobs after implementing Agnipath,” the functionary added.
On Monday, at the meeting chaired by party president JP Nadda with leaders from the state and the two election in-charges, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and lawmaker Biplab Deb, the issue of changing tack was discussed, a second functionary said.
There is, however, a section of leaders in the BJP who feels the party would have done better to promote Jat leaders from withing the organisation. “There is already heartburn over inductions from other parties and how they are given Rajya Sabha berths, tickets to contest polls and even positions in the party. The reliance on outsiders needs to be checked,” the second functionary said.
The functionary added that party’s Jat faces Captain Abhimanyu, OP Dhankar, former state unit chief Subhash Barala should have been “given prominence in the state as well as the Centre.”
“Two of the three turncoats who were fielded– Ranjit Singh from Hisar and former Congress MP from Sirsa Ashok Tanwar — lost the Lok Sabha polls, so there is scope to encourage home-grown leaders who are conversant with the ideology and party’s discipline,” the second functionary said.
In 2019, the BJP managed to form government in Haryana after partnering with the JJP. The BJP had 40 members in the 90-strong assembly and counted on 10 JJP legislators to from government for a second time. In 2014, the party won 47 seats and was in a comfortable position to form government.
