Major revolt in Haryana BJP. Two ministers, others quit over tickets to ‘turncoats’ for October 5 assembly polls

At least two ministers in the Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini government in Haryana resigned amid rebellion within Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of assembly polls. The revolt was reported after the saffron party released its first list of 67 candidates for the October 5 elections.

The leaders who have revolted include state Energy Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala and Minister of State for Social Justice Bishamber Singh Balmiki. The two ministers have resigned from the government even as Chief Minister Saini is making efforts to talk to these leaders.

The charge by the rebels is that the party has preferred turncoats over loyalists in ticket distribution.

In its list released on September 4, BJP dropped eight sitting MLAs, including the two ministers. The 90-member Haryana Assembly will go to the polls on October 5. The results will be declared on October 8.

Chautala contested the 2019 Assembly polls in Haryana as an Independent candidate after the Congress denied him a ticket. He joined the BJP after resigning as an MLA, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections 2024. He was later inducted into the Cabinet. He contested the Lok Sabha polls from Hisar but lost to Congress leader Jai Parkash.

Chautala announced his decision to resign as Minister as well as from the primary membership of the BJP after meeting his supporters in Rania.

Chautala said that being the son of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, he cannot compromise. “I will contest the elections as an Independent candidate from Rania. The BJP offered me a ticket from Dabwali, but I turned down the proposal. I am resigning from the Cabinet and the primary membership of the party,” Chautala was quoted as saying in a News18 report.

Apart from the two ministers, the BJP’s Ratia MLA Lakshman Napa, vice-president and Faridabad in-charge GL Sharma, and former Badhra MLA and Charkhi Dadri president Sukhvinder Sheoran, have also resigned from the party. Laxman Napa has already joined the Congress party.

BJP OBC Morcha state president Karan Dev Kamboj has also quit BJP after being ignored in Indri seat in Karnal district. "Me and my family have been part of BJP since the Jan Sangh days. I worked with dedication and now the party has adopted the Congress culture," Kamboj told media.

Former state ministers Kavita Jain and Savitri Jindal have also rebelled. While Jain has given the party a two-day ultimatum to field her from Sonipat, Jindal, who is the mother of BJP’s Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal and one of India’s richest women, has threatened to contest from Hisar where the party has renominated sitting MLA and minister Dr Kamal Gupta.

“In the first list of 67 names, 14 are from the Jatav, Balmiki, Dhanak, Bishnoi, Sikh, Jat, Yadav, Brahmin, and Vaishya communities. The seats of 9 MLAs, which include three ministers also, have been changed. This has been done only to ensure community combinations. As part of established equations, a few former MLAs have also been included in this list. A lot of synergy needs to be established in politics,” BJP’s Haryana in-charge Biplab Deb told reporters in Rohtak.

The former Tripura CM said the party had kept all factors, including community balance, in mind while finalising the list.