New Delhi: Three MLAs from Haryana, including Devender Singh Babli of the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the party seeks to strengthen its position ahead of the upcoming state elections. All three MLAs belong to the Jat community, a demographic the BJP is targeting to expand its influence after the split with the JJP before the Lok Sabha elections.
Devender Singh Babli, who represented Tohana in the Haryana Assembly, served as a minister in the previous government led by Manohar Lal Khattar. He was one of the two JJP ministers in the Khattar government, apart from JJP leader Dushyant Singh Chautala. There are rumours that Babli might receive a BJP ticket for the upcoming polls. At first, he had shown interest in joining the Congress, but the party did not guarantee him a spot from Tohana, with multiple leaders vying for the same seat, NDTV reported.
BJP welcomes new leaders
Sunil Sangwan, whose father Satpal Sangwan previously served as a Haryana minister and Sanjay Kablana are the other two leaders who joined the BJP. They were welcomed into the party by BJP general secretary Arun Singh, former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli. Arun Singh said that the BJP is committed to development and expressed confidence that the party would secure a third term in Haryana. He claimed there is a pro-BJP sentiment prevailing in the state.
Chautala taunts BJP in poem
Babli’s defection has left JJP leader Dushyant Chautala with only three of the party’s original 10 MLAs, including himself, his mother Naina Chautala, and Amarjeet Singh Dhanda, the MLA from Julana. Meanwhile, Ram Niwas Surjakhera’s attempt to switch parties was stalled due to rape allegations against him. Chautala seemed unbothered by the defection and responded with a brief poem on X, formerly known as Twitter, which roughly translates to:
First they said they would cross 400,
Now they are taking leaders on loan from the JJP,
Sitting in Delhi, they are waiting.
They can’t even find 90 candidates
Their leaders are hunting in the assembly
No victory in Karnal, defeat in Ladwa too,
Just let October 5 come this time,
After that they are out forever.
