JJP eyeing 3 ministerial berths

Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 26

Closed-door parleys continued among Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leaders till late Saturday evening to choose ministers, though Deputy CM-designate Dushyant Chautala will disclose the names before the oath-talking ceremony on Sunday.

Sources say the party will get at least three ministerial berths, including that of Dushyant. The JJP has won 10 seats in the newly elected Assembly. Six of them are from Jind and Hisar districts, and one each from Charkhi Dadri, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Fatehabad.

One of the ministers would be a Dalit. The JJP has four Dalit MLAs — Anoop Dhanak from Uklana, Ram Karan from Shahabad, Ram Niwas from Narwana and Ishwar Singh from Guhla.

Each one of them carries weight in their own right. Dhanak is among the founding members of the JJP. Ram Karan has defeated BJP minister Krishan Bedi by a margin of 37,127 votes, while Ram Niwas won by a margin of 30,692 votes. Ishwar Singh is a former Rajya Sabha member.

Another potential ministerial candidate is “giant-slayer” Ram Kumar Gautam, who defeated Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu by a margin of 12,029 votes.

Also, it is difficult to ignore Tohana legislator Devinder Singh Babli, who has defeated senior BJP leader Subhash Barala by a big margin of 52,302 votes. After the loss, Barala resigned as state BJP president.

“As Dushyant is accepting a ministerial berth, his mother Naina Chautala may not join the Cabinet,” a party leader said on the condition of anonymity.

Along with Dushyant and Naina, the JJP has two more Jat legislators — Jogi Ram Sihag and Amarjeet Dhanda. But they have a slender chance of making it to the Cabinet.

JJP workers, meanwhile, were upbeat when Dushyant returned to Chandigarh on Saturday after submitting to the Haryana Governor a letter pledging support to the BJP. They raised slogans, projecting him as the “future Chief Minister” of the state.

“Dushyant has no option, but to support the BJP. His family will taste power after more than 14 years. They can get some works done in their area and benefit workers. Had he not joined the BJP, JJP MLAs would have defected,” a JJP worker from Fatehabad said.

Twitter abuzz with JJP vs BJP videos 

Chandigarh: Twitter is abuzz as #JJPcheatsHaryana and @JJP4Haryana are trending. The Twitterati are sharing the previous statements of Dushyant and Naina against the BJP, PM Narendra Modi and CM Manohar Lal Khattar. Dushyant’s October 10 tweet in which he labelled Khattar as a “unique liar” is being widely shared.  

A video in which he is seen questioning Modi over killings during the Jat agitation and violence in Panchkula following the Sirsa dera chief’s conviction is also being circulated. 

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala has tweeted an old video of state BJP in-charge Anil Jain, who called Dushyant a “monkey who has set his own house on fire”. In reply, Dushyant labelled the BJP Ravana and likened himself to Hanuman who would set them on fire.