We worked with full honesty to adhere to ‘gathbandhan dharma’: Jannayak Janta Party leader Ajay Chautala

Chandigarh, March 13

Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) chief Ajay Singh Chautala on Wednesday said his party worked with full honesty to fulfil the ‘gathbandhan dharma’ over the last four-and-a-half years of the alliance and his party was never power hungry.

His statement came a day after JJP’s alliance with the BJP ended with the BJP replacing Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as the Haryana chief minister.

Chautala said his party had demanded two Lok Sabha seats in Haryana for the upcoming general election, but was refused by the BJP.

“I was also in Delhi the day before yesterday. Dushyant Chautala met BJP president J P Nadda (over seat sharing). We said we wanted to contest the two seats but they refused to give it,” he said.

Chautala said that he sent Dushyant Chautala back to the BJP leadership with the message that the JJP would not fight even a single seat if it fulfils the promise of Rs 5,100 per month under the Old Age Pension scheme and would support it in all 10 seats.

“We are not power hungry,” he said, and added, “in four-and-a-half years, we worked with full honesty to adhere to the ‘gathbandhan dharma’.”  

The BJP on Tuesday replaced Khattar with OBC leader Nayab Singh Saini as Haryana’s chief minister in a swift switch in the state, just weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Saini, who is the party’s state unit president, was sworn in as the chief minister along with five ministers at the Raj Bhavan, hours after the dramatic resignation of Khattar and his cabinet.