Haryana: Dushyant Chautala Elected Leader Of JJP Legislative Party

Dushyant Chautala has been elected the leader of Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) legislative party, Amarjeet Dhanda was chosen the chief whip while Eshwar Singh was elected as the deputy leader at first meeting of the newly elected MLAs on Friday. The Haryana Assembly poll verdict threw up a fractured mandate with the JJP winning 10 of the 90 seats. BJP and Congress have bagged 40 and 31 seats respectively seats. The half-way mark is 46. 

Dushyant will meet his father Ajay Chautala, who is currently lodged in Tihar Jail, before taking a final decision on the future course of action. While till now Chautala has remained non-committal on whether his party would support the BJP or the Congress, party sources said he is likely to meet Union Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah soon.

Sources also said that the BJP too would like to have him onboard and make him an equal stakeholder in the state government as it would help reduce dependence on Independents, even though many of them are BJP rebels. The BJP was weighing its options, sources in the saffron party said. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which formed its first ever government in the state on its own in 2014, is set to return to power with help of seven Independent candidates.

Earlier in the day, Chautala while commenting on the trends which were available at that time had said, "this shows there was huge anti-incumbency against the (Manohar Lal) Khattar government." But when asked whether his party will support the BJP or the Congress, Chautala remained non-committal.

"It is too early to say anything. We will first summon a meeting of our MLAs, decide who would be our leader in the House and then take it further," he told reporters.

"People of Haryana want change," he added.

Notably, Chautala had floated the JJP in December last year after a vertical split in the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) following a feud in the Chautala clan.

The INLD was decimated in the polls and could manage to win only one seat.