JJP to go solo in Haryana, will contest in all 10 Lok Sabha seats
Days after the BJP-JJP alliance fell apart, the Ajay Chautala-led party on Tuesday announced that it would contest on its own all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Jannayak Janata Party’s political affairs committee in Delhi, the party said in a statement. three of 117 seats, and its ally, the Bahujan Samaj Party won one seat. The BJP, which had an alliance with the Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Lok Congress, could win two seats, while the Congress emerged as the principal opposition party.
By 2027, SAD would have been out of power in Punjab for a decade, having lost it to the Congress in 2017 and pushed to number three in 2022 when AAP swept the polls.
On Tuesday morning, BJP state unit chief Sunil Jakhar posted his video message on X, stating that the BJP will contest alone in Punjab. Jakhar emphasised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s work for farmers, such as procuring grains at minimum support price. He said the Kartarpur corridor was opened during the BJP government’s tenure at the Centre.
‘Principles above politics’
Later, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said that for his party, “principles are more important than the numbers game”, unlike some national parties. On Friday, the SAD had passed a resolution at its core committee meeting, which said the party would “continue to put principles above politics”. It urged the Centre to honour its “categorical written commitment” for the release of Bandi Singh (Sikh prisoners) who have served their prison terms and reiterated its commitment to fight for the rights of farmers and farm labourers.
The SAD and BJP have contested elections together since 1996. In 2019, the alliance of the SAD and BJP won two Lok Sabha seats each. The Congress won eight and AAP one seat of the 13. For the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP was renegotiating its earlier arrangement with the SAD, demanding that it should get to contest six seats instead of the three that it has traditionally.