Despite Jat resentment, BJP and JJP hope to cash in on alliance

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 28

The Jat-centric Jannayak Janta Party has come under fire from certain quarters within the community for aligning with the Bharatiya Janata Party led by a non-Jat to form the government in Haryana but it may not have been the only one to feel the pressure.

Four of the seven Independents, all Jats, are also learnt to have felt the heat for extending unconditional support to the BJP from the leaders of their community, forcing the BJP to reach out to the JJP, sources maintained.

As the results came in, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar rushed to New Delhi, where the BJP began to work out the numbers. With the BJP winning 40 seats and seven Independents being elected to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, the party’s top brass began by eye them.

Sources said the party was of the opinion that cobbling together a majority with the Independents would mean lesser weight to carry along. Further, it would offer the party greater flexibility in terms of “accommodating” the Independents even though the support being extended to the saffron party was “unconditional”.

While the BJP began working on this exercise and the Independents began moving to Delhi, sources maintained that a section of the Jat community reached out to a couple of the Jat legislators who had made it as Independents. These legislators were conveyed the displeasure of the community on their decision to extend support to the BJP government which identifies itself with non-Jats, making the former a little jittery.

Realising that government formation was a race against time and that these Independents were feeling the pressure of the community, the BJP quickly changed tack and reached out to the JJP, also a party with a Jat vote bank.

While the focus was on the BJP aligning with the Independents, the saffron party forged an alliance with the JJP and declared it immediately. Though the Independents are still being kept as “reserves” by the BJP in case of any slip with the JJP at any stage later in the term, both parties are hoping to cash in on this opportunity which has brought them together.

Sources said that while the BJP wanted to balance out the anti-Jat sentiment it had been stuck with since the 2016 agitation of the community turned violent, the JJP wanted to use the government platform to expand its base and consolidate its position. It remains to be seen how the two parties keep pace with each other and move ahead.