Back-to-back setbacks to JJP, several bigwigs along with state president quit party

Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), a former ally in the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) run-government in Haryana, is suffering back-to-back setbacks as several party heavyweights quit the party on Monday adding to the woes of the party. JJP which was once at the helm of the power is continuously going through a lot for some time after its alliance with the BJP came to an end ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Following the break-up of the BJP-JJP and citing differences with the party leaders, the state president of the party Nishan Singh has resigned from the post. However, till now he has submitted his resignation verbally and according to him, he will submit the written resignation to the party high command. On the other hand, Meenu Beniwal, a confidant and loyalist of JJP big shot and party’s national president Dr. Ajay Singh Chautala, also resigned from the party and announced joining BJP.

Apart from the aforementioned, the party’s National general secretary Kamlesh Saini also bid farewell to the party, due to which JJP suffered another blow. Apart from this, the party’s state general secretary Rekha Shakya has also quit the party just ahead of the polls. In such a situation, senior party leaders and Deputy CM are facing opposition from farmers and youth during canvassing at different places.

While reacting to his resignation, Nishan Singh said ‘’I have resigned verbally and will submit my resignation in writing soon. Since obstacles do occur sometimes which force you to come up with such decisions. If you feel that my sentiments are being violated then such decisions have to be taken and I won’t say anything more than that. Because even the resignation is still incomplete. What the biggest principle of our religion says is that if we do not heal then we will not suffer. It is a saying that when you have to leave a friend, leave him/her only in the spirit of friendship so that you do not feel embarrassed when you meet again’’

It is pertinent to mention that the differences emerging between Nishan Singh led to new political developments. It is noteworthy that Nishan Singh was elected an MLA from Tohana in 2000. In the 2019 assembly elections, despite being a strong contender, Devender Singh Babli who had joined the JJP after quitting the Congress, was fielded from the Tohana constituency then. Due to the same, Nishan Singh could not contest the assembly elections and was believed to be upset and disgruntled due to the same which is clearly evident from his statement pertaining to his resignation. Besides, the JJP is crawling on several fronts. In this series, it is pertinent to mention that for a long time, continuous discord and widened rift were being witnessed within JJP between the MLAs and the party leadership. With the break-up of alliance with BJP, the rift was widened within the party adding to its woes. Notably, 5 five of the party MLAs including former ministers Devendra Babli, Ishwar Singh, Jogi Ram Sihag, Ramnivas Surja Kheda and Ramkumar Gautam were upset over several reasons. It is noteworthy that during the session called on a discussion on confidence motion, aforementioned MLAs marked their presence in the assembly despite a whip directing them no to present in session issued by the JJP.

Apart from Nishan Singh, Meenu Beniwal, who was once close to Ajay Chautala, has also announced to quit the JJP and joined BJP. It is noteworthy that Meenu Beniwal played an important role as the architect of the JJP-BJP coalition government in Haryana. From time to time he also indicated that he holds importance in the politics of the state. The information received has revealed that he will take membership of the party in the presence of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and former CM Manohar Lal at the BJP rally to be held in Kalanwali on April 10. Beniwal, who was the coordinator of the JJP-BJP government, is considered a close one and is in the good books of the former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. This is the reason why JJP Principal General Secretary and the younger son of Dr Ajay Chautala, Digvijay Chautala has even termed him an impostor. On the other hand, the problems of the party have increased after the resignation of Kamlesh Saini and Rekha Shakya from the post of National General Secretary and State General Secretary.