Subhash Barala’s exit was on cards
CHANDIGARH: The ouster of Subhash Barala as the Haryana BJP chief was on the cards. Somehow, he managed to not only complete his term, but also stay at the helm of affairs despite the BJP’S inability to cross the halfway mark in the October 2019 assembly elections, forcing the party to form a coalition government.
Barala’s political troubles began with the alleged stalking case involving his son, who was then a law student at Kurukshetra University. The BJP backed him despite the raging controversy.
A close aide of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Barala, 52, a Jat leader, went up the ladder quite quickly.
He won his first-ever election in 2014 after losing twice. Barala remained the state BJP chief from December 2014, when he replaced Ram Bilas Sharma, who became a cabinet minister in the previous Khattar government.
As Jats, the largest and very volatile vote bank of Haryana, were angry with the BJP, the task before Barala was to woo them in the October 2019 assembly polls.
But the BJP, which was aiming at a lofty ‘Abki Baar 75 Paar’ (this time, it will be over 75 seats), fell short of a simple majority (46 seats) in the 90-member state assembly, securing just 40 seats. The BJP had swept the Lok Sabha polls in May.
Barala himself lost the assembly polls from the Tohana segment by 52,302 votes. Since then, the knives were out demanding his ouster.
‘APPOINTMENTS DONE THROUGH PVT AGENCY’
It was further stated that the V-C had appointed 150 persons,