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Coalition of non-Jat parties could hurt BJP in Haryana

CHANDIGARH:With political parties wielding influence over non-Jat sections coming together in Haryana, it appears disadvantage BJP.

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Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 12

With political parties wielding influence over non-Jat sections coming together in Haryana, it appears disadvantage BJP. These small parties, when merged into a single force, can erode saffron party’s votes in urban pockets.

Rebel BJP MP from Kurukshetra Raj Kumar Saini, who heads the Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP), is reportedly keen on an alliance with Gopal Kanda’s Haryana Lokhit Party and has sent him feelers in this regard. He has already held talks with Haryana Janchetna Party chief Venod Sharma. Kanda’s younger brother Gobind admitted that the LSP was in touch, but refused to say more. “The party will take a call on the issue of a tie-up with a political party at the appropriate time,” he said.

Kanda, once a confidant of the Chautalas, won the Sirsa Assembly seat as an Independent in 2009 and was made minister in the Hooda Cabinet. He had to resign on August 5, 2012, after he was booked for abetting the suicide of a former air-hostess with MDLR Airlines owned by him. He launched his party ahead of the 2014 polls and fielded candidates in some constituencies in Sirsa, Fatehabad and Hisar districts. Most of his candidates fared badly. Both Kanda and his brother lost by narrow margins to INLD candidates in Sirsa and Rania, respectively. 

Significantly, Kanda’s party is the third to be in touch with Saini for a poll pact after the BSP snapped ties with the INLD and stitched an alliance with the LSP three days ago. On Sunday, SAD leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa too had hinted his party was in touch with Saini.

“If Saini’’s efforts bear fruit, the new coalition may prove a dampener for the ruling BJP. Even if it does not win any seat, it is sure to eat into BJP’s non-Jat votes,” remarked an observer. 

However, Subhash Barala, state BJP president, dismissed such speculation, claiming the people of Haryana had already made up their mind.

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