The BJP on Friday sealed an alliance in Haryana with Dushyant Chautala's newly formed political outfit Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which won 10 seats in the 90-member Assembly defeating mostly BJP candidates including heavyweights like former Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu and Prem Lata, the wife of former Union Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh.
The BJP, which was earlier trying to form a government with the support of Independents, changed the move after a controversy erupted over Gopal Kanda offering unconditional support to BJP.
The scenario changed when Dushyant Chautala announced that neither BJP nor Congress was untouchable for the JJP. The announcement was made minutes after junior Chautala met his father Ajay Chautala in Tihar jail.
To do away with Gopal Kanda and for a stable government in the state, the BJP started weighing the options of an alliance with JJP. Finally, the deal was sealed in a meeting between BJP President Amit Shah and Dushyant Chautala.
Shah, without hesitation, accepted the offer made by JJP to give Deputy Chief Minister's post to the party which was a major cause for BJP's poor show in the state Assembly polls.
Out of 10 seats that the JJP won, it defeated the BJP candidates on eight seats and Congress on two seats.
Chautala himself defeated Prem Lata from Uchana Kalan constituency of Jind district by 47,452 votes. This Jat dominated constituency is a part of Hisar Lok Sabha.
After suffering defeat at the hands of Prem Lata from Uchana Kalan in 2014 Assembly polls in Haryana, Dushyant Chautala was trounced by her son Brijendra Singh in Hisar Lok Sabha seat.
Birender Singh, a sitting Rajya Sabha member, won from Uchana five times. Former CM Om Prakash Chautala, despite being an outsider, also won from Uchana Kalan in 2009.
The political rivalry between Singh's family and the Chautalas is not new in Hisar. Both families have a long political history and stronghold in the state.
Sitting Hisar MP Brijendra Singh, who defeated Dushyant Chautala in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, is the son of Birender Singh and Prem Lata while Dushyant is the grandson of former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala.
JJP's Ram Kumar Gautam defeated Captain Abhimanyu in Narnaund Assembly constituency by a margin of 12,000 votes while state BJP chief Subhash Barala faced a humiliating defeat against JJP's Devender Singh Babli. He lost the contest from Tohana against JJP's Devender Singh by a huge margin of 52,302 votes.
Krishan Kumar Bedi, a Minister in Khattar government lost to JJP's Ram Karan from the Shahbad reserved constituency. He lost by a margin of 37,127 votes.
The JJP candidates also defeated BJP candidates from Barwala, Tula, Narwana and Uklana Assembly Constituencies. The JJP nominees further defeated Congress candidates from Badhra and Guhla.
( With inputs from ANI )