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JJP’s demand to fight Delhi

polls puts BJP in tight spot

The new demand from Dushyant Chautala-led party — a regional biggest road block besides the Congress
ally — to give it around 18 seats in the state assembly elections has which too is trying to revive itself in the
state. The Congress did not win a single
come as a surprise for the saffron party, reports amit agnihotri seat in the 2015 assembly polls.
Poll watchers say the BJP allies have
he Bharatiya Janata Party ap- Dushyant has reportedly told the BJP become aggressive after the party’s re-
pears to be facing a little ally to decide on the seat-sharing for Delhi cent performance in the Haryana and
problem ahead of the high- soon or else his party would declare its the Maharashtra assembly polls where
pitched Delhi Assembly elec- own candidates. The JJP leaders said they it emerged as the single largest party but
T tions on February 8 with its have nothing to lose by going solo but could not secure a simple majority on its
Haryana partner Jannayak Janata Party will certainly eat into the BJP’s vote share. own.
asking for around 18 of the 70 seats. That may not be good news for the In Maharashtra, though BJP ally Shiv
Results in Delhi would be out on Febru- saffron party which rules the centre but Sena contested the polls jointly but
ary 11. is desperate to hold power in the nation- ditched the saffron party post-poll to
In 2019, the Dushyant Chautala-led al capital where it had won all the seven join hands with rivals Congress-NCP and
JJP had contested the Haryana assem- parliamentary seats in the 2019 Lok Sab- share power. The BJP had won 105 of the
bly elections separately but forged an ha elections. 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra but
alliance with the BJP post-poll to share For the BJP, AAP founder and Delhi the Sena with 56 chose to align with the
power in the state. Dushyant became chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is the Congress 44 and the NCP 54 and form a
the deputy chief minister while the BJP
repeated chief minister Manohar Lal
Khattar.
Ever since the BJP was badly defeated
by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in the
2015 Delhi polls, winning just 3 of the 70
assembly seats, the right-wing party has
been trying hard to regain power in the
national capital.
Now, the new demand from the JJP
has come as a surprise as the regional
ally has asked the BJP to have a pre-poll
alliance with it and give it around 18 seats
in the Delhi assembly elections. Oth-
erwise, the JJP has told the BJP, the ally
would go solo in the national capital in
a move that will only end up hurting the
saffron party.
The JJP which was formed last year
after Dushyant parted ways with the
Indian National Lok Dal formed by his
grandfather OP Chautala, believes it has
a fair chance of winning in the outer-
Delhi seats with a sizeable Jat popula-
tion like Najafgarh, Mundka, Mahipalpur,
Mehrauli, Nangloi, Badarpur, Devli and
Chhatarpur.