HJC Snaps Ties With BJP, to Align With JCP

CHANDIGARH: Ahead of the Assembly elections in the state, the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) has snapped its three-year-old alliance with the BJP and announced plans to join hands with the Jan Chetna Party (JCP), led by former Congress leader Vinod Sharma.

Accusing the BJP of betraying him and his party, HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi on Thursday said: “We tried our level best and made sincere efforts to keep the alliance working... They (BJP) are not ready to stick to agreed alliance principles.”

He also cited the BJP’s record of cheating its partners as a reason for his party to enter a written alliance agreement with it.

“The BJP tried to look down on us several times. Still, we tried to behave well in order to save the alliance,” the HJC chief said and added that the decision to part ways with the saffron outfit was taken in the best interests of the people of the state.  

“The BJP is absorbing corrupt leaders from other parties, especially the Congress. We could not have carried on with them in such circumstances, as I cannot share stage with that sort of people. Also, the BJP has no cadre of its own. It had no candidates to fight the Lok Sabha elections and they lured leaders from the Congress. For the Assembly polls, the party will hardly find any candidates,” Bishnoi said.

Pointing out that the entire BJP had betrayed his party, the HJC chief said, “I cannot name a particular leader. The BJP central leadership also betrayed me. We had a written alliance agreement and the party betrayed it too.”

Referring to the BJP’s betrayal of Bansi Lal, Devi Lal and Om Prakash Chautala and others in the past, he said betraying partners was the  BJP’s habit.

“The party has even dumped its senior leaders such as Atal Behari Vajpayee, Murli Manhar Joshi and L K Advani. What can you expect from such a party,” the HJC chief asked and said his defeat in the Lok Sabha polls from Hisar was the BJP’s handiwork. 

Dismissing the BJP’s claims of having many deserving candidates for the post of Chief Minister, Bishnoi said, “Most of the  candidates, who claim to be future CM, might not even be able to recall when they last contested the polls.”