'Alliance very much intact and will continue too', Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar on 'rift' with JJP

Chandigarh: Amid talks of a possible rift in the ruling alliance between the BJP and the JJP in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar asserted on Saturday that the alliance was reached for public welfare, and it will continue in the future as well.

"No change has been made," he categorically told the media here, setting aside rumours of fissures between his party and alliance partner Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) led by Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala.

"We are having cordial relations. We are meeting, both officially and personally. We (BJP) didn't get the adequate numbers to form the government (in 2019). Keeping in mind the aspirations of the people, we entered into an alliance with the JJP to form a stable government in Haryana," Khattar said.

Without mincing words, he added, "The alliance is very much intact and will continue too."

Amid preparations by the BJP and the JJP to woo the electorate ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls separately, five Independent legislators met BJP in-charge for the state, Biplab Kumar Deb, in the national capital.

Deb, the former Chief Minister of Tripura, tweeted photos of MLAs Dharam Pal Gonder, Rakesh Daultabad, Randhir Singh and Somveer Sangwan, who expressed confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, after the meeting on Thursday.

On Friday, Sirsa MLA Gopal Kanda of Haryana Lokhit Party also met Deb in Delhi. After the meeting, Kanda expressed faith in Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's leadership.

The meetings assumed significance given that the BJP was non-committal in continuing its alliance with the JJP.

On Deb's meeting with the five legislators, Khattar said, "The party organisation works at its own level and the government works on its own. We are running the government and there is no such issue.

"The in-charges of the organisation work to foresee the challenges facing the party, not the government (functioning). They have to make preparations keeping in mind the future elections. Maybe they have some plans or strategies, at least I can't comment on them," Khattar said.

On Friday, Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala had said that the JJP-BJP alliance was forged under the leadership of Amit Shah to run a stable government in Haryana, adding that there was no compulsion in forging an alliance.

The Lok Sabha elections are due in May next year, while the term of the present Vidhan Sabha ends in October 2024.