A day after their alliance with the BJP broke down, the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) could be heading for a split within its ranks. The four JJP MLAs, who failed to attend the meeting called by JJP chief Dushyant Chautala on Tuesday, chose to be present in the Assembly on Wednesday for the trust vote of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini despite a party whip asking them to be absent from the House.
The whip issued by the JJP read: "All JJP members of the Haryana Legislative Assembly are hereby informed that Confidence Motion in the council of ministers proposed by the government will be brought in the Haryana Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, the 13, March, 2024."
"All members of JJP in the Haryana Legislative Assembly are therefore requested to remain absent positively from the House at the time of voting on a confidence motion on Wednesday," it stated.
In the 90-member state assembly, the BJP has 41 members, and it also enjoys the support of six of the seven independents as well as of lone Haryana Lokhit Party MLA Gopal Kanda. The JJP has 10 MLAs in the House. The main opposition Congress has 30 MLAs while the Indian National Lok Dal has one.
However, Devendra Babli, Ramkumar Gautam, Jogi Ram Sihag and Ishwar Singh chose to ignore the whip and reach the House. Later, the four JJP MLAs and an Independent MLA, Balraj Kundu, left the House.
They had also attended the BJP government's swearing-in ceremony but stayed away from the urgent meeting held at Chautala's residence.
The party's future stance will be decided on Wednesday, JJP's Haryana unit chief Nishan Singh said the party would decide its future course on Wednesday where the party would hold a Nav Sankalp rally in Hisar. "Whatever the party will decide will be informed in the rally," he added.
However, even without the JJP support, the BJP appears to be comfortably placed in Haryana.
Meanwhile, Saini on Wednesday moved a motion to seek a vote of confidence in the assembly. The Speaker fixed two hours for discussing the motion.
Former state home minister Anil Vij was also present in the House. Vij, who was reportedly unhappy with how he was sidelined in favour of Saini, opted to keep away from swearing in-ceremony on Tuesday.
