By : Shrishti Mehra
Devender Singh Babli, a former Haryana minister, claimed Dushyant Chautala cannot seek a floor test on behalf of JJP members, saying eight out of ten are against him.
Former Haryana minister Devender Singh Babli questioned Dushyant Chautala’s capacity to write to governor Bandaru Dattatreya demanding a floor test, claiming they would replace the latter as leader of the Jannayak Janta Party’s (JJP) legislature wing and stake claim to the party. According to Babli, Chautala cannot demand the test on behalf of JJP MPs, as eight out of ten of them are opposed to him.
“Dushyant has just his mother…Naina Chautala’s backing, while the rest of the parliamentarians want him to be the JJP legislature party leader. He should provide his resignation. Otherwise, the other members would remove him,” Babli stated a day after the Congress and JJP increased their efforts to destabilize Haryana’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration and wrote to Dattatreya.
Babli stated, “Dushyant Chautala’s ideology has changed. He is now talking about supporting Congress, whom he used to term the biggest enemy. After the 2019 assembly polls, he [Chautala] extended support to the BJP and was part of the government for four and a half years. Now, he is seeking to topple the BJP government.”
JJP lost support from the then-Manohar Lal Khattar cabinet in March, prompting the BJP to select Nayab Singh Saini as chief minister.
According to sources familiar with the situation, rebel JJP lawmakers are anticipated to challenge Dushyant Chautala’s leadership in the coming three to four months. They stated that three JJP lawmakers met with Khattar on Thursday to devise a strategy for breaking JJP.
The rebel members stated that they will determine whether to back the BJP government if a non-confidence motion is filed. “Before the floor test, we will replace our legislature party leader. “When the non-confidence motion is moved, we will decide who to support,” stated a rebel legislator.
Four of the rebel lawmakers are thought to be in contact with BJP leadership, while Dushyant Chautala retains the support of Amarjeet Dhanda, Anoop Dhanak, who is receiving treatment in Gurugram, and Naina Chautala. Family members of the other two legislators, Ram Karan Kala and Ishwar Singh, have joined the Congress.
Babli referred to Dushyant Chautala as a scoundrel, adding that the latter’s family had established the JJP as a private limited business. “The party [JJP] is named after Jannayak… [the late former deputy prime minister] Devi Lal… but Dushyant has become criminal. JJP’s eight legislators and the Haryana population oppose him because of his arrogance and authoritarianism. He would question us whenever we attended any social occasion organized by other party leaders.After becoming deputy chief minister, he was occupied with various projects and isolated himself from party legislators. The voters chose us. We are legislators, not boundless laborers. Dushyant and his father, JJP chief Ajay Chautala, are using harsh rhetoric against us in public, but they cannot silence our voices. Dushyant and his mother, Naina Chautala, called me during the 2019 assembly elections after the Congress denied me a ticket. I told them I couldn’t run on their ticket, but they persuaded me.”
He claimed that Dushyant Chautala’s behavior altered when he took control, and that the entire cadre, as well as eight parliamentarians, are now against him. “He has to pay the price for his actions,” Babli stated.
Digvijay Singh Chautala, the JJP’s general secretary, stated that the parliamentarians supported Dushyant Chautala. He denied Babli’s charges as untrue and unfounded.
In addition to Gopal Kanda of the Haryana Lokhit Party and two independents, the BJP has forty members. With the parliament now at 88 members, that puts it at 43, two short of the majority mark of 45. The Indian National Lok Dal has one lawmaker, the JJP has ten, and the Congress has thirty. Uncertain of his stance, one independent lawmaker has not expressed it.