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Is BJP Safe In Haryana?

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2024-05-10 07:13:09

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

The Nayab Singh Saini government in Haryana is indulging in fire fighting to save itself after three Independents, who were supporting the BJP, suddenly withdrew their support this week. The Congress and the JPP are gunning for the BJP government with both saying that it has been reduced to a minority and has no moral right to remain in office. While former BJP ally Dushyant Chautala of the JPP wrote to the state governor Bandaru Dattareya to demand a floor test, the Congress has sought time for a meeting with the governor to press the issue.

The Haryana assembly has 90 seats. There are 88 MLAs now (two seats are vacant) and the majority mark is 45. The BJP has 40 MLAs and three Independents continue to support it. Hence, it has 43 MLAs on its side. On the other hand, the Congress has 30 MLAs and the JPP 10. If they unite and have the support of the 3 Independents who withdrew support to the BJP, this combine will also have 43 MLAs. One each from Haryana Lokhit Party and INLD (who is represented by Abhay Chautala) remain non-aligned as of now.

But just yesterday, former BJP chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had a meeting with some JPP MLAs (four of them reportedly attended the meeting) adding a twist to the affair. With JPP facing a possible split (the party was quick to take action and served show cause notices to the errant MLAs), the chances of the BJP government falling does not seem bright. Even if the JPP MLAs resign before changing sides, it will bring the majority mark down to 43 and then the BJP will sail through in the floor tests, if it is held.

Hence, if the opposition is not able to keep its house in order, it should not push for a floor test. In any case, a floor test was held in March this year after Saini took over. According to the rules, another floor test can be called for only after 6 months or in extraordinary circumstances at the discretion of the state governor. It remains to be seen if the governor thinks this is a fit case for a floor test.