Marking their poll territory, BJP and JJP circle around each other

To another question on the number of seats the JJP would contest in the Lok Sabha polls, Chautala said it will be known in the “future”, adding that the party is preparing “for all 10 seats (of Haryana)”.

The response is in sharp contrast to Chautala’s position four months ago, in December 2022, when he had categorically said that the JJP would contest the 2024 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the BJP.

The BJP too has indicated that it might go solo, with Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah saying in January that “the Lotus will bloom in all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana in 2024”.

These statements on both sides show that the parties might be recalibrating their strategy before the 2024 elections. While the Lok Sabha polls are likely to be held in April or May next year, the Haryana Assembly polls are due in October.

The BJP and JJP had contested the 2019 Assembly polls separately. The BJP won 40 seats, falling short of a majority in the 90-member Haryana Vidhan Sabha. The party then formed a government with the JJP, which had won 10 seats.

Now, the BJP is said to be closely analysing if Chautala still has an appeal with the Jat community, which forms a significant voter group in the state. The Jat vote bank also gains importance in light of the growing role of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, also a Jat, in the state Congress affairs. In April 2022, the Congress appointed Hooda loyalist Udai Bhan as Haryana party chief and Hooda supporters believe the move has further strengthened his base within the Jat community.

At the time of the intense farmer agitation in 2020-21 against the now-repealed three Central farm laws, there was a strong demand from farmers, which formed the JJP’s core support base, to snap ties with the BJP. There is a growing impression within the BJP circles that the move created anger within the farmer community towards the JJP.

The rethink in the parties also comes as the BJP moves to consolidate its votes by reaching out to members of influential families in the state, including the Chautala family of former Ceputy Prime Minister Devi Lal. Lal’s son and Independent MLA Ranjit Singh Chautala is already part of the Manohar Lal Khattar-led Cabinet in the state. Ranjit has also openly been expressing his “keenness” to contest the next election as a BJP candidate. Recently, the BJP appointed Aditya Devi Lal, one of Devi Lal’s grandsons, as the chairperson of the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board.

Meanwhile, voices from within the BJP leaders on the question of alliance have also been non-categorical.

Former Union minister and BJP leader Chaudhary Birender Singh said a few months back: “The BJP did not get a clear majority in the 2019 Assembly polls. The BJP wanted help from someone for a stable government which it got in the JJP. This alliance (BJP-JJP) is for five years to run the government. Will it sustain in the future too? I do not think so.”

Asked about Singh’s statement, Chautala said Saturday: “If someone has some grudge, I cannot resolve that. During the past three-and-a-half years, we have worked very effectively on how to help the state progress. And the state has moved further.”

Referring to the ambitions of both parties, Chautala said: “A day before yesterday, I was listening to Pradhan Mantriji. On the occasion of the BJP’s foundation day, he (the PM) said, ‘We were a party of two MPs, now we have crossed the mark of 300’. Do we have to limit our organisation (the JJP) just to 10 seats? Not at all. Will the BJP contest the (Assembly polls) by limiting itself to 40 seats only? No. Both parties are preparing (to contest) all 90 seats. A decision (on the alliance), which will be taken, lies in the future. Who does not want growth?”

However, the BJP says there were no issues between the allies, adding that the decision about the future would be taken by the top leadership. While former state BJP president Subhash Barala said “there are no differences”, state Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare minister J P Dalal said the “central leadership will take a call for the future”.