E-Paper
JJP leader Dushyant Chautala promises support to bring down Haryana government
JJP withdrew support to the then Manohar Lal Khattar government in March, prompting the BJP to appoint Saini as the chief minister
Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader and former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala on Wednesday promised support to bring down the government in Haryana if former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda thinks it needs to be done. He asked Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini to either prove his majority or resign on moral grounds since his government has been reduced to a minority.
JJP withdrew support to the then Manohar Lal Khattar government in March, prompting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to appoint Saini as the chief minister.
Hooda said a Congress delegation will meet Haryana governor Bandaru Dattatreya seeking a vote of no confidence if JJP gives in writing that it will not support BJP in the assembly. “If the JJP is not the B team of the ruling BJP, then they should write to the governor immediately,” said Hooda.
Hooda said the government is now in a minority while reiterating his demand for the imposition of the President’s rule. “The President’s rule should be imposed in the state and an election should be held,” he said in response to a question whether the Congress would ally with JJP to form the government.
Saini won the trust vote on March 13 a day after being appointed. The maximum period between two sessions of the assembly cannot exceed six months. This means that the governor will have to summon the House before September 13. Saini could face a floor test just weeks before assembly elections are scheduled in the state.
If the BJP wins the assembly by-election on May 25, then the government will have a majority of one in the 90-member House even as another independent was expected to join the dissidents.
The BJP government in Haryana tottered on the brink of collapse after independent lawmakers Randhir Golan, Dharmpal Gonder, and Sombir Singh Sangwan said they would back Hooda and have written to Dattatreya withdrawing their support from the Saini government. The three said they would campaign for the opposition Congress in the ongoing national elections.
All 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state will go to the polls on May 25 while the assembly elections are due in October-November this year.
Two seats in the 90-member assembly are vacant. Of them, Karnal is going for by-elections on May 25. The BJP has 40 members and the support of two independents and Gopal Kanda of the Haryana Lokhit Party. That takes its strength to 43, two short of the majority mark of 45.
The Congress has 30 lawmakers, the JJP 10, and the Indian National Lok Dal one. One independent legislator has not made his position clear. If they all oppose the government, there will be 45 votes against the state government.
On Tuesday, JJP leader Digvijay Singh Chautala asked Hooda to meet the governor. “Now, we are in Opposition and the JJP will work to topple this government. Hooda should talk to JJP and independents and stake claim to form the new government,” he added.
Family members of JJP legislators Ram Karan Kala and Ishwar Singh have joined the Congress while a third, Jogi Ram Sihag, has announced that he would campaign for the BJP. If the JJP abstains, it will help the ruling party.
