JJP, BSP announce alliance for Haryana Assembly elections

Ravi S.Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 11

The Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Sunday announced an alliance for contesting the October Assembly elections in Haryana.

The JJP will contest 50 seats, while the BSP will contest 40 out of the total 90 seats in the state.

JJP leader and former MP Dushyant Chautala and BSP’s national general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP SC Mishra jointly announced the electoral tie-up between the two parties. The duo claimed that the alliance will present an alternative to the ruling BJP during the upcoming elections.

The JJP will organise a rally on September 25 to celebrate the birth anniversary of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal, which will be jointly addressed by top leaders of both the parties. 

“Decisions related to the face of the alliance and its chief ministerial candidate will be decided by both the parties in due course of time,” said Chautala.

He dismissed speculations of JJP’s possible alliance with other parties. 

“The JJP and the BSP will have alliances with no other parties,” he said.

“The alliance will bring about a transformation in the state and we will strive to get majority to form a government in the state,” Chautala said.

Mishra said: “We want to forget about the past and start a new chapter,” in response to queries that the BSP had allied with INLD for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but junked it later for a new partner.

The BSP had entered into an alliance with the INLD for the Lok Sabha elections, but walked out of from it after nine months and tied up with Rajkumar Saini’s Loktanter Suraksha Party (LSP).

The JJP had allied with AAP, but they parted ways after the Lok Sabha election.

With INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala being in jail in connection with the teacher recruitment scam, his son Ajay Chautala had broken away from the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and formed the JJP ahead of the General Election this year.