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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  BJP offers deputy CM post, asks ally HJC to contest fewer seats in Haryana
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BJP offers deputy CM post, asks ally HJC to contest fewer seats in Haryana

Analysts say the BJP is trying to assert itself with alliance partners who have tended to grow in states at the expense of the party

The BJP, following up on its impressive general election victory, is bidding to defeat the Congress party, which rules Haryana. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/MintPremium
The BJP, following up on its impressive general election victory, is bidding to defeat the Congress party, which rules Haryana. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has offered cabinet berths to leaders of its alliance partner Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) to persuade them to contest fewer seats in forthcoming state assembly elections in Haryana.

The BJP, following up on its impressive general election victory, is bidding to defeat the Congress party, which rules Haryana. The Congress has 46 seats in the 90-member state assembly, while the BJP has only four. But in the general election, the BJP won seven of the state’s 10 Lok Sabha seats.

Amid strains over seat-sharing between the two alliance partners ahead of the polls, the BJP has offered the post of deputy chief minister to Renuka Bishnoi, wife of HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi and a Haryana legislator, according to a leader of the HJC who declined to be named.

In spite of the tussle, an internal assessment by the BJP indicates the party has an upper hand in the run-up to the election, expected to be held later this year. BJP president Amit Shah, who is leading the party’s electoral strategy, had carved up the map of the state in four parts for purposes of a political survey and asked state leaders to survey each of the state’s 90 assembly constituencies. The final report of the four surveys was given to Shah on Monday.

The BJP is demanding two-thirds of the assembly seats, while HJC president Bishnoi said, “The two parties have an agreement that both will contest 45 seats each, but we are prepared to contest all 90 seats on our own also."

“I want the alliance to stay. The alliance between the BJP and the HJC is good for Haryana," he said.

While the two parties had each contested all 90 constituencies in the 2009 assembly elections, when they were not in an alliance, according to the HJC, they later struck an agreement in 2011.

According to the terms of the deal, the two would contest 45 seats each in the 2014 assembly polls and share the five-year term of chief ministership by ruling the state for two-and-a-half-years each. The alliance partners had also decided that the BJP would contest eight of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state while the HJC would get to contest the remaining two.

“The time has come for the BJP to honour its agreement with the HJC. The alliance between the two political parties was formed with the blessings of Sushma Swaraj (who is now external affairs minister) and Nitin Gadkari, who was the BJP president at that time. The BJP must not make changes in the agreement," said a senior leader of the HJC.

Although the BJP leadership believes that the party can perform well on its own by riding the wave in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it doesn’t want to call off the alliance. “The BJP is not in favour that the alliance should break. The two parties should stay together. The BJP will follow the coalition," said a senior BJP leader who is part of the discussions between the two political parties.

HJC leaders insist that there was a clear understanding between the two parties that while the BJP would contest more seats in the Lok Sabha elections, the regional party would get to play a bigger role in the state elections.

Political analysts say the BJP is trying to assert itself with its alliance partners after the recent victory in the Lok Sabha elections because the party believes regional alliance partners have tended to grow in the states at the expense of the BJP.

“The BJP is asserting itself because it has nourished the view that regional alliance partners like the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) and Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal have grown at the expense of the BJP and have benefited in the states because of the vote base of the BJP. The BJP now wants to reclaim the lost ground in the states as it is looking to increase its vote base in the states to form governments," said Jai Mrug, a Mumbai-based political analyst.

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Published: 29 Jul 2014, 11:34 PM IST
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