BJP’s coalition with JJP left Gurugram in civic mess: Narbir

Gurugram: Amid squabbling within the BJP over the chief minister’s post in Haryana, former minister Rao Narbir Singh has said he is not in the race and wants to focus on Gurugram, which has turned into a “civic mess” due to his own party’s coalition with the JJP from October 2019 till March 2024, a period when he was not in the government.

The three-time cabinet minister, who was denied a ticket by the BJP in the 2019 assembly polls, has been fielded by the party this time from Gurugram’s Badhsahpur, the largest constituency in the state in terms of number of voters. Narbir Singh had defeated veteran Rao Inderjit Singh in 1987 and became the youngest to hold the office of the state’s home ministry at the age of 26. He also held the transport, food and civil supply and cooperation portfolios in successive governments.

Singh was also the PWD and forest minister in the first term of the Khattar government from 2014-2019. Senior BJP leaders Rao Inderjit Singh and Anil Vij have said they will be staking claim to the CM’s post if the party forms government in the state.

However, Narbir Singh has no such ambitions. “The central leadership has already announced Nayab Saini as the CM face. I don’t think they will change it now. I am not in the race for it. Several years ago, I tried to become the CM but now I do not have any misconceptions. I want to focus on Gurugram and I am in the race for a ministerial berth, that’s it,” he told PTI in an interview. Narbir Singh (63) announced last month that if he is not fielded by the BJP this time, he would contest from the constituency as a Congress candidate.

“I agree Gurugram is a civic mess currently. We have the worst waterlogging, worst roads and traffic crises and the city has turned into a garbage dump. The last five years not just brought the city to a standstill but reversed the pace of development,” he said. The BJP and Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janata Party formed an alliance in October 2019 which broke up in March 2024. “I blame the coalition for it (the Gurugram’s civic problems). We had a majority government from 2014 to 2019 and anybody can question the pace of development but things went downhill since 2019. It was our coalition with the JJP which is to be blamed.