JJP not to contest Delhi Assembly poll

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 21

The Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) will not to contest the Delhi Assembly elections, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala announced here today.

Saying the JJP would support the BJP, its alliance partner in Haryana, he asserted that the decision against contesting the poll had been taken in consultation with the Delhi unit on account of technical issues as the Election Commission had allotted the party symbol “key” to another registered party.

The two party symbols “cup and saucer” and “chappals”, used by the party during last year’s Jind byelection and Lok Sabha poll, respectively, were allotted to other registered organisations, forcing the party to drop its plan to contest the poll.

The JJP had expressed its desire to contest 18 Assembly seats in Delhi, reportedly in alliance with the BJP. Its decision not to contest clearly showed that the BJP was not interested in accommodating its junior alliance partner in Haryana on so many seats. On the ongoing tussle between Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Home Minister Anil Vij over control of the CID, Dushyant said the distribution of departments among ministries was the prerogative of the Chief Minister though the minister concerned could seek a report from a particular department within his ministry.

He was evasive on the next Cabinet expansion and induction of a minister from the JJP quota, saying the state government would take a call on the issue at an appropriate time. He downplayed reported resentment among JJP MLAs as none from them had been nominated as board or corporation heads.

Dushyant claimed that during the month-long membership drive, the JJP had enrolled over 4 lakh new members and the its total membership could be pegged at over 22 lakh.

LSP-led alliance to contest all seats

New Delhi: A 10-party ‘Mahagathbandhan’ of small outfits led by Haryana-centric Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP) will contest all 70 Assembly seats in Delhi. “The alliance’s constituents will contest on their own individual symbols,” said Raj Kumar Saini, LSP convener and former BJP MP from Kurukshetra, here on Tuesday. The alliance constituents include RLSP, a Bihar-centric party headed by ex-Union Minister Upendra Khuswaha; Suhel Dev Bhartiya Samaj Party headed by ex-UP Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar; Jan Adhikar Party headed by ex-UP Minister Babu Singh Khushwaha; Sarvjan Lokshakti Party headed by Delhi BSP ex-chief Om Prakash Kashyap and the National Youth Party.