Haryana polls: How Modi stepped in to end BJP-JJP alliance tussle

The unending bickering between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) seems to have finally ended after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped in to calm the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner.

With less than nine months left for the Lok Sabha elections and a little over a year for Assembly elections in Haryana, the Prime Minister has offered the JJP leadership a deal to contest both the battle together as NDA members.

Though a seat-sharing arrangement has not been finalised, Modi has assured the JJP that there will be an alliance between the two parties in both Haryana and Delhi during both the elections.

“Modi assured us there will be an alliance between the BJP and JJP for both the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Haryana and Delhi,” said Prateek Som, spokesperson and senior leader of JJP.

“Since the assurance has come from the Prime Minister himself, we are directly talking to the central leadership of the BJP and not the state leaders,” he said.

BJP-JJP tie-up

The BJP decision is interesting because, since the arrival of Modi on the national stage, the BJP has not contested elections in Haryana with an alliance partner. In Delhi, it has allied with the Akali Dal in Assembly elections.

The alliance with the JJP took place after the BJP failed to win a majority on its own in the 2019 assembly elections. This will be the first instance when the BJP will share Lok Sabha seats in Haryana and Delhi with an alliance partner.

The ruling BJP won seven of the total 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana in 2014 and bettered its performance in 2019 by winning all 10 seats.

While the political tussle between BJP and JJP leaders in Haryana has continued for months, the recent trouble started after former union minister Chaudhary Birender Singh stated that the BJP should ideally contest the Lok Sabha elections on its own.

The rivalry between Singh and JJP chief and Haryana’s deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala is over the Uchana assembly constituency, which Chautala represents.

Since the Singh and Chautala families have often contested against each other in Uchana, Birender Singh wants that the constituency should ideally be represented by his family.

Chautala’s stronghold

JJP chief Dushyant Chautala had defeated Singh’s wife in the last assembly contest.

“Chaudhary Birender Singh wants the Uchana seat for his family, which is why he keeps attacking Dushyant Chautala. It is for the BJP to decide how they want to respond to the attacks by Birender Singh. We do not know if the former Union minister holds any post in the BJP to make such decisions,” said Som.

But Singh is not alone in his assessment that the BJP should contest both the Lok Sabha and assembly elections on its own. A large section of the BJP in Haryana feels the party must not align with any political party as it won all the Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2019 and it can repeat this in 2024.

“The two parties came together after the elections. We can do that again. During the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won all 10 seats on its own. The final decision over the alliances for Lok Sabha and assembly elections will be taken by the central leadership,” said a senior BJP leader from Haryana.