‘Unwell’, ‘retired’, ‘sitting at home’, ‘national interests’ — 7 JJP MLAs skip poll campaign

‘Unwell’, ‘retired’, ‘sitting at home’, ‘national interests’ — 7 JJP MLAs skip poll campaign

Gurugram: Before senior BJP leader and Haryana’s former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar filed his nominations from Karnal parliamentary seat Monday, Ram Niwas Surjakhera, an MLA of Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), went to meet him at his Karnal residence.

“Met former CM Honourable Manohar Lal Ji at his residence and congratulated him for filing his nomination from Karnal as BJP candidate,” Surjakhera, an MLA from Narwana, said in a message he posted on X along with photos of the two leaders.

Surjakhera hasn’t been campaigning for Ramesh Khattar, JJP’s candidate from Sirsa — the seat under which Narwana comes. He’s one of seven JJP MLAs who have deliberately kept away from the party’s ongoing election campaign in Haryana.

Apart from Surjakhera, the other “missing” MLAs are: Anoop Dhanak from Uklana, Ram Kumar Gautam from Narnaund, Jogi Ram Sihag from Barwala, Ram Karan Kala from Shahbad, Ishwar Singh from Guhla, and Devender Singh Babli from Tohana.

For example, the Hisar parliamentary seat, from where former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala’s mother Naina is contesting, has four assembly segments — Uchana Kalan, Uklana, Narnaund and Barwala. Only, Dushyant, the Uchana Kalan MLA, has been campaigning for his mother.

Sihag has already announced his support to BJP’s Hisar candidate Ranjit Singh — the paternal uncle of JJP supremo Ajay Singh Chautala — even though the JJP’s flag is still flying atop his residence. He told ThePrint that although he’d announced support to the BJP, he was still part of the JJP.

“For me, national interests are above those of my party,” Sihag said. “I’m impressed with how India has developed under PM Narendra Modi and have offered my support for Ranjit Singh in the national interest. With me, hundreds of my supporters will also support the BJP candidate.”

Meanwhile, Gautam had been critical of Dushyant Chautala both inside and outside the state assembly ever since the JJP head became the deputy CM in October 2019.

Gautam told ThePrint he was “unwell” and wasn’t participating in political activities.

ThePrint also tried to reach Dhanak by phone. This report will be updated if and when he responds.

But a JJP source told ThePrint that the leader was admitted to a hospital in Gurugram.

JJP supremo Ajay Singh Chautala said that the party was keeping a watch on the MLAs and had initiated the action by sending notices. Notices have so far been sent to Jogi Ram and Surjakhera, he said.

JJP has a total of 10 MLAs in the 90-member Haryana assembly. The party is contesting from all 10 Lok Sabha seats.

The ‘missing’ seven

Two MLAs —  Shahbad’s Ram Karan Kala and Guhla’s Ishwar Singh — saw their sons join the opposition Congress.

Kala’s sons Kanwar Pal and Sukram Pal — both former councillors — joined the Congress with JJP’s former state president Nishan Singh 29 April. Ishwar Singh’s son Randhir, too, announced his decision to join the Congress on the same day.

When contacted by ThePrint, Kala was non-committal about his next move. “I am not supporting any political party in these elections,” he said. “My sons have joined the Congress. It is their decision, and I’m sitting at home. I will decide my future course of action after consulting my supporters.”

While he couldn’t be contacted by phone, Ishwar Singh had told media persons much ahead that his son would join the Congress and that he himself would “lead a retired life”.

However, one supporter of the Guhla legislator told ThePrint that the “intended retirement” was meant to avoid the anti-defection law and that he too would eventually join the Congress.

On his part, JJP supremo Ajay Chautala told ThePrint that the party cannot take action against those whose sons have joined another political party.

Tohana legislator Devender Singh Babli, meanwhile, told ThePrint that he had neither joined any political party so far nor had any plans to campaign for any JJP candidate.

When Ajay Chautala was asked by the media Sunday why Babli was not joining his party’s campaign, he described the Tohana MLA as a “bojh” (burden) on the party.

Responding to this, Babli said it was the JJP supremo who was the burden. “I have a big team of 500 booth yodhas (polling booth level workers), an organisation called Tohana Azad Hind Fauj that works for me, and a few NGOs I have been supporting for the last several years. I will consult them before taking a call about which political party to join.”

On whether he had already bid farewell to the JJP, Babli’s response was caustic saying that he didn’t have to because “the party leadership” had already done it on his behalf.

He also blamed Dushyant Chautala for his decision to exit. “When Dushyant Chautala was the deputy CM, he kept all the departments. I had to fight with him to become a minister because I believe that when you don’t get the rights you have to snatch them,” he said.

“We made him the deputy CM, and he wanted to keep all the powers with him. That’s why all leaders, including JJP state president Nishan Singh, had to leave the party.”

Though Amarjeet Singh Dhanda was present when Bhupender Malik, the party’s candidate from Sonipat, filed his nomination 4 May, the Julana MLA hasn’t been seen at campaigns since then.

Dhanda didn’t respond to calls on his mobile.

(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)