Dushyant Chautala writes to Haryana Governor, seeks immediate floor test

This comes a day after Chautala declared that he was ready to support the Congress party if it wanted to topple the Saini government in the state

Dushyant Chautala, former deputy chief minister of Haryana and president of the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), wrote to governor Bandaru Dattatreya on Thursday, asserting that the Nayab Singh Saini government no longer holds the majority and called for an immediate floor test.

This letter comes a day after Chautala declared he was "ready" to support the Congress party if it aimed to topple the Saini government in the state.

On Tuesday, three independent Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), Sombir Sangwan (Dadri), Randhir Singh Gollen (Pundri), and Dharampal Gonder (Nilokheri), withdrew their support for the Saini government, reducing it to a minority in the state assembly.

 

In his letter, Chautala also urged Dattatreya to call for a floor test "promptly."

"In light of the critical situation and the immediate need to restore stability and uphold democratic principles in Haryana, I respectfully urge Your Excellency to exercise your constitutional authority... to instruct the appropriate authority to promptly conduct a floor test to ascertain the government's majority," Chautala wrote.

Former chief minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda also demanded a floor test and the imposition of the president's rule. At a rally in Bhiwani on Thursday, Hooda said that Congress has sought time to meet the governor on Friday and present a memorandum regarding the current political situation in the state.

However, sources in the Congress party's Haryana unit told Business Standard that most senior leaders are not keen on forming a government in the state as the next elections are scheduled to take place in five months.

"Currently, there is high anti-incumbency in Haryana. If we go ahead and form a government, it could impact our chances in October," one of the people cited above said. The state assembly elections in Haryana are expected to take place in October.

They also added that the party does not want to form a coalition with the JJP as it was also part of the government that they were opposing until very recently.

According to political commentator Mahabir Jaglan, the letter and Chautala's statement are part of the JJP's efforts to regain relevance.

"They just want to make a comeback into the mainstream," he said, adding that seven out of ten of their MLAs internally support either Congress or the BJP.

He also mentioned that this could be an attempt to shed the tag of being the Bharatiya Janata Party's B-team.

"After they came out of the coalition, they are being seen as vote cutters. This could be an attempt to come clear of that tag," he said.

The 90-member Haryana assembly currently has an effective strength of 88. The seats of Karnal and Rania became vacant after Manohar Lal Khattar and Ranjit Singh resigned to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Karnal and Hisar, respectively.

Of the 88 members, 40 MLAs are from the BJP, 30 from Congress, and 10 from the JJP. The Indian National Lok Dal and the Haryana Lokhit Party have one member each, while there are six independent candidates.

In addition to the 40 BJP MLAs, the party has the support of two independent MLAs, bringing its total to 42. This is three short of the majority mark of 45.