BJP faces major revolt in Haryana: Who are the rebels and why are they sulking?

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini said that he will reach out to senior party leaders and that the BJP will put up a united front in Haryana polls. (File Photo: PTI)

The release of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s first list for the Haryana elections has sparked a massive rebellion within the party ranks. The BJP released its first list of 67 candidates for the elections to the 90-member Haryana Assembly on Wednesday, immediately setting widespread revolt from influential party leaders.

Several leaders, including two ministers and senior MLAs, have rebelled against the party. Energy Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala and Minister of State for Social Justice Bishamber Singh Balmiki resigned from the government on Thursday after being overlooked.

Additionally, BJP OBC Morcha state president Karan Dev Kamboj, a former minister, quit the party while MLA Laxman Napa joined the Congress in New Delhi after resigning from the BJP. Former state ministers Kavita Jain and Savitri Jindal, the mother of BJP’s Kurukshetra MP and one of India’s richest women, have threatened to contest against the BJP in seats where they have been overlooked.

Laxman Napa, the sitting MLA from Ratia, joined the Congress after he was replaced by former MP Sunita Duggal with the BJP ignoring his demand for a renomination. Napa later met former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and announced that he will be joining the Congress.

Ranjit Singh Chautala, Power and Jails minister in the Nayab Singh Saini government, and the son of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, was seeking a ticket from Rania but the party chose to field Shishpal Kambhoj instead. He has since announced that he will contest the polls from Rania, either as an Independent or from another party. A former MLA from the same seat, he unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from Hisar.

Karan Dev Kamboj, OBC Morcha chief who was eyeing the ticket from Indri or Radaur, alleged that the BJP had strayed from its ideology. He has since resigned from the party claiming that party loyalists have been sidelined to accommodate "traitors" who "switched loyalties" for personal gains. The BJP, he said, had drifted away from the ideology of its founders Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Syama Prasad Mookerjee.

Bishamber Singh Balmiki quit as Minister of State for Social Justice after being denied ticket to contest from the Bawani Khera seat. He reached his residence crying and held a meeting with his supporters who demanded that the party replace candidate Kapoor Valmiki.

Kavita Jain, a ticket hopeful from Sonipat, was also sulking after the party fielded Nikhil Madan from the constituency. She has served a two-day ultimatum to the BJP to field her from the seat.

Savitri Jindal, one of India’s richest women, and a minister in the Saini government, has declared herself as the candidate from Hisar after being denied a ticket by the BJP. Her son, industrialist and Kurukshetra MP, had also lobbied for a BJP ticket for his mother.

Other rebels include Hisar Mayor Gautam Sardana, senior leaders Shamsher Kharkara and Jai Bhagwan Sharma, Dalit leaders Shamsher Gill and Seema Gabipur, former minister Bachan Singh Arya.

The denial of tickets for the coming Haryana elections has sparked a major revolt within the state unit of the BJP. While several senior leaders have quit, several others are weighing their options. Among the many reasons cited by BJP leaders, the party’s perceived preference for several turncoats appears to have miffed them the most.

At least 10 turncoats, including many former leaders of Dushyant Chautala’s JJP, feature in the party’s first list for the October 5 polls. The rebels have questioned the party’s choice of candidates and alleged the leadership of overlooking loyalists.

The desertions have left Chief Minister Saini in a tight spot. Since the leaders’ rebellion, he has visited at least one rebel minister and promised to reach out to more leaders.

“The party high command has finalised the candidates after giving it a lot of thought. They are our senior party leaders and senior workers. We shall talk to them. Laxman Napa ji, Karan Dev Kamboj were our MLAs. We shall talk to them. In Haryana, all our leaders, all our party workers shall work together to ensure that the BJP forms the government for the third time,” Saini said.

BJP’s Haryana in-charge Biplab Deb said that the party had kept “community balance” in mind while finalising the list. “In the first list of 67, 14 are from the Jatav, Balmiki, Dhanak, Bishnoi, Sikh, Jat, Yadav, Brahmin, and Vaishya communities. The seats of nine 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,” the former Tripura CM said.