Haryana Cabinet set to see reshuffle
CM Khattar, Dy CM Dushyant hold meetings of their MLAs; BJP may bring in Independents to replace JJP ministers. Ties between two parties at breaking point over Lok Sabha seats
THE BJP-JJP government in Haryana is headed for major changes on Tuesday, with the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls putting a strain on the alliance.
The top leaderships of both the BJP and JJP (Jannayak Janata Party) have called separate meetings of their respective MLAs. Before that, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will hold a meeting of all BJP ministers at his residence.
Government insiders told The Indian Express of the possibility of a “complete Cabinet reshuffle”, with no JJP representative in it. The BJP will reportedly take the support of Independent MLAs instead, accommodating a few in the Cabinet.
Seat-sharing talks for the Lok Sabha elections have been stuck, with the BJP stalling the JJP’s demand for 2 of the 10 constituencies in Haryana. The JJP and BJP had come together in a post-poll arrangement in the state after the BJP fell short of a majority in the 2019 Assembly polls.
JJP leader and Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala met BJP president J P Nadda in New Delhi on Monday, where it was reportedly conveyed to him that the party would not be sharing any Lok Sabha seats with him. A scheduled meeting of Dushyant with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday morning did not happen.
The meeting of BJP MLAs, chaired by party Haryana affairs in-charge Biplab Deb, will be held at Khattar’s residence.
The JJP MLAs, led by Dushyant, will be meeting in New Delhi, where the party will reportedly formulate its future strategy. Currently, Dushyant apart from Anoop Dhanak and Devender Singh Babli are the three JJP ministers in the Haryana government.
The JJP has been seeking the Hisar and Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seats, but the BJP state unit wants to contest all the 10 constituencies, and has conveyed the same to the high command. It has also prepared a panel of potential candidates. The JJP is scheduled to hold a meeting in Hisar on March 13, which it is projecting as a show of strength.
Dushyant’s close aides confirmed to The Indian Express that “major developments” are expected, and that once the new Cabinet is formed, “it’s obvious that the BJP and JJP will walk their separate paths”. “The situation will be clear in hours.”
Earlier, Khattar held a meeting with Independent MLAs to figure out how they were leaning. Nayan Pal Rawat, the Independent MLA from Prithla, told The Indian Express that the CM had called him over to meet. “He asked if I was with the BJP. I told him that I and other Independent MLAs had always been with the CM and been supporting the BJP from day one.”
Rawat added that his sense was that the BJP-JJP alliance was over, and that he too advised Khattar that the BJP should contest all the 10 Lok Sabha seats alone.
It is not the first time that the BJP-JJP coalition has come under a strain, with the party that was formed just ahead of the 2019 elections worried over the fallout of farmer protests on its Jat vote bank.
After the Lok Sabha polls, Haryana is scheduled to have Vidhan Sabha elections in October. While there has been talk the past few months about possibilities of the two elections being held together, Khattar has ruled this out.
Incidentally, over the past few days, the Haryana government shuffled key officials posted in departments headed by Dushyant Chautala, which was also seen as a move to cut him off.
Currently, in the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP has 41 MLAs, while the Congress has 30, the JJP 10, and there are 7 Independents, apart from an MLA each of the INLD and Haryana Lokhit Party.
The partnership between the BJP and JJP has had hurdles in recent times, with divisions surfacing on several themes. The apparent divide is expected to undermine the stability of the state government and could lead to changes in key ministry positions.
The decision for a Cabinet overhaul comes amidst speculations of discontent within the JJP regarding the power-sharing arrangement and the functioning of the coalition. The current political landscape indicates at the potential of realignments and changes in the government structure.
The Haryana Cabinet reshuffle is considered to be a smart step to quell internal criticism and reinforce the stability of the government. The rift between the BJP and JJP is expected to have implications on the political dynamics of the state, and the reshuffle is considered as an attempt to manoeuvre through this hard moment.
As the political changes unfold in Haryana, observers are anxiously looking for the formal pronouncements and the consequent influence on the state’s administration and governance.
