India News | Kept Interests of Haryana Supreme, Fulfilled Coalition Dharma: Dushyant Chautala

Chandigarh, Mar 15 (PTI) Days after his party's alliance with the BJP ended in Haryana, JJP leader Dushyant Chautala on Friday said he always kept the interests of the state supreme and worked with complete honesty to fulfil the coalition dharma.

While in power, the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) fulfilled all its poll promises barring Rs 5,100 per month under the Old Age Pension scheme, Chautala, the former deputy chief minister of Haryana, said.

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The BJP named Nayab Singh Saini as Haryana's new chief minister on Tuesday, hours after the surprise resignation of Manohar Lal Khattar from the post along with his cabinet ministers.

Chautala said he raised the issue of revising the pension from the current Rs 3,000 per month to Rs 5,100 per month during his meeting with senior BJP leaders in Delhi last week and they sought some time.

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And then this happened, Chautala said referring to Khattar being replaced as the chief minister.

After this development took place, the JJP made it clear that it would not be part of the new government formation, Chautala told reporters here.

Asked whether JJP will fight all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, Chautala said the party is drawing up its strategy.

In this regard, the party held a meeting of workers from two Lok Sabha constituencies on Friday which will be followed by similar meetings over the next four days for the remaining eight constituencies, he said.

After this exercise, the party will make a final decision on whether to fight all seats or just focus on a few.

On his meeting with Khattar here on Thursday, Chautala said it was a courtesy call since he has worked with the former CM for the last four-and-a-half years.

Replying to a question, Chautala said that while being in alliance JJP's vision was clear to take Haryana ahead.

I always kept the interests of the state supreme while working with full honesty to fulfil the coalition dharma, he said.

On BJP replacing Khattar, he said, "If any party takes a political decision, I don't think we can stop it".

Reacting to the Congress' allegation that the BJP and the JJP were still hand-in-glove, Chautala quipped, "If (Bhupinder Singh) Hooda thinks we will not put up a candidate in Rohtak so that Deepender wins from there then he is mistaken."

"I am also hearing statements of some other leaders that our (BJP and JJP) separation was preplanned. I want to clarify that our party had not merged with the BJP. It was an alliance which had been stitched based on a common minimum programme," he said.

"I don't think there is any binding on me to not field JJP candidates against the Congress or the BJP," he added.

On the breaking of the alliance with the BJP, Chautala said, "The break up came as a jolt to you, not me...Mentally, I was prepared right from day one".

On five of his party MLAs not attending a crucial party meeting recently, he said whatever action will be needed in the matter will be decided by the party's state unit president.

However, he asserted that the MLAs had not violated the party whip which directed them to remain absent during the trust vote of the Nayab Singh Saini government in the State Assembly.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)