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.
JJP which was once at the helm of the power is going through a tough 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 the state president of the party Nishan Singh, citing differences with the party leaders, has said he is quitting the post. However, he has not submitted his 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.
JJP national general secretary Kamlesh Saini also bid farewell to the party. Party state general secretary Rekha Shakya has also quit.
‘’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,’’ said Nishan Singh.
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.
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. For a long time, continuous discord and widened rift IS being between MLAs and the party leadership.
With the break-up of alliance with BJP, the rift within the party was widened adding to its woes. Notably, five of the party MLAs– former ministers Devendra Babli, Ishwar Singh, Jogi Ram Sihag, Ramnivas Surja Kheda and Ramkumar Gautam– were upset over several reasons. 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.
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.
Sources said 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.