JJP Chief Dushyant Chautala Keeps Options Open, Says Will Support Those Who Share Party’s Vision

Keeping his options open, Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) president Dushyant Chautala on Friday, a day after the Haryana assembly election results were declared, said the JJP will give its support to that party which will agree to his party’s common minimum programme. “The party which will agree to our common minimum programme under which we had taken the resolution of 75 per cent jobs reservation for Haryanvis and that of Chaudhary Devi Lal's idea of old age pension, the JJP will give its support to that party,” Chautala said at a press conference after the legislative party meeting of 10 MLAs in New Delhi. 

He said he had so far not spoken to either the BJP or the Congress on the matter.

"No one is untouchable for us. We will support whichever party agrees to implement our agenda as part of a common minimum programme," Chautala said. He was elected leader of the JJP legislative party.

The BJP has already claimed the support of a majority of MLAs in the 90-member Haryana assembly, with a number of independent legislators extending their support to the party. The BJP has won 40 seats followed by 31 of the Congress.

Haryana on Thursday ended up with a hung assembly with the ruling BJP emerging as the largest party with 40 seats, but still six short of the halfway mark needed to form the next government.

The Congress won 31 seats, the Jannayak Janta Party 10, the Indian National Lok Dal and Haryana Lokhit Party one each. The Aam Aadmi Party, which contested 46 seats, was decimated.

The BJP's final tally came as a disappointment for a party that had won all 10 parliamentary seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, and predicted that it will cross 75 seats this time in the assembly.

But eight of 10 ministers fielded by the BJP lost.

In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP cornered 58 per cent of the vote share, which has now dropped to about 36.5 per cent.

Despite the loss of seats, this is still about three percentage points more than what the party got in the 2014 assembly polls -- a point stressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he spoke later to party workers in Delhi.

The Congress vote share is up nearly eight percentage points since 2014.

For the state's main opposition party, hit by infighting that required a change in the state leadership ahead of the October 21 election, the results gave it a shot at power, if the JJP extends support.

As counting trends indicated that no party would enough seats in the 90-member House to form the government, senior Congress leader and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda sought support for his party.

In the 2014 assembly elections, the BJP formed the government on its own, winning 47 seats. The Congress had then won 17 seats, INLD 19, Shiromani Akali Dal one, Bahujan Samaj Party one and independents five.

The BJP strength in the House later rose to 48 after it won a bypoll.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar retained his Karnal seat by a margin of 45,188 votes against his Congress rival Tarlochan Singh. But, apart from the eight ministers, state BJP chief Subhash Barala (Tohana) lost.

JJP leader Dushyant Chautala won by 47,452 votes over the sitting BJP MLA Prem Lata in Uchana Kalan. Prem Lata is the wife of former Union Minister Birender Singh, and has defeated him earlier.

Among the sportspersons fielded by the BJP, only former Indian hockey captain Sandeep Singh won from Pehowa. International wrestlers Babita Phogat (Dadri) Yogeshwar Dutt (Baroda) lost.

TikTok star Sonali Phogat lost to senior Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi in Adampur.

Senior cabinet minister Anil Vij won from Ambala Cantonment, which he has represented five-time legislator, defeating independent candidate Chitra Sarwara by 20,165 votes.