Congress hits out at JJP, says it was and will remain a B-team of BJP
NEWDELHI: Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda tried everything to prevent Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) chief Dushyant Chautala from joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In a last ditch attempt to woo Chautala, Hooda accepted all his demands, including 75% jobs for Haryana residents, a common minimum programme and respectable position in the alliance. However, he had made it abundantly clear that the Congress will not leave the chief minister’s post to its junior partner as it did not want a repeat of Karnataka model where the party gave the top post to the Janata Dal (Secular). However, the coalition government later collapsed after some legislators from both the parties resigned, paving the way for the BJP to form the government.
Hooda also urged the JJP with 10 legislators and seven independents to come together against the BJP.
“We are ready to have a CMP. As far as old age pension or 75% job reservation for Haryanvis is concerned, it is already provided in our manifesto. If he has other suggestions, we are open to that. Now, it is up to him,” Hooda told reporters after Chautala addressed a news conference in Delhi and made public his conditions for a tie-up with either the Congress or the BJP.
“Any party which agrees to the CMP in which we want 75% reservation in government jobs for
Haryanvis and implementing Chaudhary Devi Lal’s idea of old age pension, we will give our support to it,” he said.
But Hooda’s repeated pleas did not yield the desired results. The JJP joined hands with the BJP, which also managed to seek the support of the independents.
Hitting out at the alliance, Congress chief spokesperson Ranterm deep Surjewala said on Twitter that “JJP and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) were and will always remain a B- team of the BJP”.
Hooda, who arrived in Delhi on Friday, held discussions with senior party leaders and his supporters throughout the day.
On Thursday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had telephonically congratulated him on the party’s good show in Haryana, according to a party leader familiar with the development. Contrary to the exit poll predictions, the Congress performed well and bagged 31 of 90 seats.
The party replaced state chief Ashok Tanwar, who remained at the helm for six years, with former Union minister Kumari Selja, and named Hooda as the head of the election management committee, on September 4 — six weeks before the October 21 polls.
So, the 72-year-old Hooda and 57-year-old Selja, got exactly 47 days to bring the Congress back in fight against a strong BJP and its popular chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Till then, the Congress was hit by massive infighting and its election machinery was completely missing from the ground. But Hooda, in a short span of time, appears to have ensured that the Congress has regained lost ground and is giving a tough fight to the BJP.
Hooda’s son Deepender had earlier in the day claimed that his party was in touch with the independents. “Haryana has voted the BJP out that is clear. The BJP is now trying to pressure independent,” Deepender said.
NEWDELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former party president Rahul Gandhi maintained silence on the election outcome in Maharashtra and Haryana where the Congress won 44 out of 288 and 31 out of 90 seats respectively, defying exit poll predictions that had written them off.
A Congress leader said the election outcome was discussed at a meeting Sonia Gandhi held with a group of senior leaders on Friday morning. Rahul Gandhi was present at the meeting. However, neither mother nor son has issued any statement on the elections.
On Friday, Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, who lost from Kaithal in Haryana, said, “In Haryana, BJP has been decisively rejected. Those who sought that they will get a 75+ mandate has not even touched the majority mark. They have no right to form a government. Defections are again coming to play with the allurement of money and power.”