Manohar Lal Khattar resigns as Haryana Chief Minister, cracks in BJP-JJP alliance widen

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his entire cabinet on Tuesday resigned amid speculation of discord within the ruling alliance of the BJP and the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) over seat-sharing in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Resignation letters were submitted to and accepted by Governor Bandaru Dattatreya.

Speculations are doing rounds that BJP’s Kurukshetra MP Nayab Singh Saini may take Kattar’s place as the new CM of Haryana. The BJP claims that with 41 BJP MLAs and 5 independent MLAs, it has a majority in the 90-seat Haryana Assembly.

This development further widens the cracks in the alliance between the BJP and Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala-led JJP. The two parties formed an alliance after the 2019 Haryana Assembly Elections when the BJP failed to get a majority at polls with only 40 seats. The JJP was keen on contesting two Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming elections. Seat-sharing talks between the two parties have not been successful as the BJP aims to contest in all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Now that the two parties are headed for a split, the JJP is planning to contest in all 10 Lok Sabha seats and 90 Assembly seats in the Haryana Assembly Elections which are slated to happen later this year. "We will issue an official statement soon. The JJP is all set to contest all 10 seats and 90 Assembly seats," said JJP spokesperson Arvind Bharadwaj.