BJP, HJC on break-up path; riding on Modi wave, BJP plans to go solo in Haryana

CHANDIGARH: With less than a month to go for polls in Haryana, the BJP is set to break its alliance with the Haryana Janhit Congress ( HJC), sources said, because it is perturbed over their seat-sharing agreement and emboldened by internal surveys predicting a wave in favour of the party.

HJC, headed by former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal's son Kuldeep Bishnoi, was to field candidates in Hisar and Karnal under its deal with BJP. BJP was to contest the remaining eight seats in the state.

The change in BJP’s stance comes within months of leaders like Sushma Swaraj reiterating that the parties will fight the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections jointly, and shows the increasing confidence of the BJP leadership over the poll outcome. The party has also strengthened its base in Haryana by pulling some Congress heavyweights to its side in the past few months. Former Congress MP Rao Inderjit Singh is now a BJP candidate from Gurgaon.

Former Haryana chief parliamentary secretary Dharamvir Singh, once a key man of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, joined BJP and is set to contest from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh seat against Congress nominee and outgoing MP Shruti Choudhry. In Sonepat, BJP got Congress leader Ramesh Kaushik on its side and even ignored its frontrunner for the seat, Pradeep Sangwan, who has resigned from the party and has vowed to stand as an independent candidate.

BJP’s state unit head, Ram Bilas Sharma, didn’t confirm any split in the HJC-BJP alliance, while senior BJP leader Anil Vij said he has "no information." However, sources within the party said an announcement of the split is a mere formality. HJC leaders refused to comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, HJC is seems to be making efforts for a patch up. By Wednesday evening, Bishnoi’s elder brother and HJC candidate from Karnal, Chander Mohan, withdrew his candidature, saying that his father had wished to field a Brahmin from the seat. This has fueled speculation that the decision was made to appease BJP, and that HJC may eventually settle to contest on just one seat.