Nemesis is finally catching up with the BJP in Haryana. In 2019, the people had given the party all 10 Lok Sabha seats from the state. It was not that the people were reposing their faith in the then Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar. In the Assembly elections held a few months later, the BJP received a drubbing. Thanks to some back-room manoeuvres that brought Dushyant Chautala’s 10-member Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) on board and won over the support of independent MLAs, Khattar managed to form a government, though the verdict was against him. For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was instrumental in installing Khattar as chief minister, it would have been a setback if he were dropped for one reason or another. Thanks to his support, Khattar was able to manage the government until a revolt, both within and outside the BJP, threatened the government.
Modi changed the rules of the game when, overnight, Khattar was dropped and in his place Nayab Singh Saini was installed. Such was his vision for the state that Saini drew up an 84-day plan that covered the remaining part of the government’s five-year tenure. The Opposition and his detractors saw it as a giveaway of his lack of confidence. Meanwhile, the Opposition Congress was gaining traction in the state. Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda was given a greater say in the management of the Lok Sabha elections, so much so that a perception grew that the BJP would lose a considerable number of seats. The farmers who have been complaining about non-payment of support prices have been distancing themselves from the BJP. Small wonder that the three weathervane Independent MLAs withdrew their support to Saini and aligned themselves with the Congress.
With the JJP also ditching the BJP, the government’s days are numbered. Chautala would like the Congress to take the initiative to bring forward a no-confidence motion. There is, however, no guarantee that a majority of the 10 JJP MLAs would not succumb to the pressures from the BJP. Since a new government has to be in place before October-end, there is little point in hastening the government’s death, more so as the debate on the no-confidence motion would only give the BJP a chance to tom-tom its “achievements”. Also, when the government is bound to fall like a ripe mango, why should anyone strain to bring it down?
