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Headlines

BJP-JJP seal deal for Haryana govt, Dushyant to be Deputy CM

New Delhi, Oct 25


The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) on Friday sealed the deal for government formation in Haryana, with the latter's Dushyant Chautala as the Deputy Chief Minister.

In a day of fast-moving developments, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur first arrived at the residence of Dushyant Chautala at 18 Janpath here and then took him along in his vehicle to Home Minister and BJP President Amit Shah's residence.

At Shah's residence, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was also present with BJP working President J.P. Nadda. After initial talks, the leaders addressed a joint press conference where Shah made in the announcement.

"The two parties have decided to form the government to respect the mandate of the people. It has been decided that the Chief Minister will be from the BJP and the Deputy CM from the JJP," he said.

On his part, Dushyant Chautala said that his party has decided to support the BJP "for the stability of the government in Haryana".

Khattar said that the party has called a meeting of the legislators and will meet the Governor on Saturday to stake their claim.

The BJP won 40 seats in the October 21 Assembly elections, seven down from its 2014 total and six short of a simple majority in the 90-member House. The JJP, which is less than a year old, won 10 seats.

The BJP, which had secured the support of seven Independents as well as former minister Gopal Kanda, has now decided not to include the latter's name in the list of MLAs supporting it, after the party faced large-scale ire on social media for taking his support. Kanda is accused abetting the suicides of his then airline's employee, Geetika Sharma, in 2012, and her mother early next year.

With Dushyant Chautala's decision to align with the BJP, the Chautala clan is making a comeback to power after 15 years, when the JJP leader's grandfather Om Prakash Chautala was defeated by the Congress in the 2004 elections.