Manohar Lal Khattar resigns as Haryana CM, BJP legislature party meet soon

CHANDIGARH (Haryana): Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday resigned at Chief Minister hours after the BJP alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) broke. The JJP, led by Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala, had 10 MLAs in the Haryana Assembly.

Manohar Lal Khattar submitted his resignation letter to Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya. Visuals showed Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar reaching Haryana Niwas along with a few senior MLAs in Chandigarh on Tuesday.

#WATCH | BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar leaves from Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh after resigning as CM of Haryana

CM Khattar and his cabinet submitted their resignations to state Governor Bandaru Dattatreya. pic.twitter.com/UaGDECkk5L

— ANI (@ANI) March 12, 2024

After leaving Raj Bhavan senior BJP Leader Kanwar Pal Gujjar said, “CM and the cabinet ministers have resigned and the Governor has accepted the resignations”. On being asked who will be the next Chief Minister Gujjar said, ” the CM will continues to be the CM”.

The legislature meeting of the party is likely to be held later in the day in which 41 MLAs of BJP will be present. Senior BJP leaders including Tarun Chugh, Union minister Arjun Munda and BJP’s Haryana in-charge Biplab Kumar Deb will also attend the meeting. The BJP leaders are also expected to meet the five independent MLAs and Gopal Kanda of the Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) who are in support of the BJP government in Haryana.

In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP has 41 MLAs. It also enjoys the support of five independent MLAs and the HLP MLA Gopal Kanda.

Earlier, after meeting Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Independent MLA Nayan Pal Rawat on Tuesday claimed that the BJP-JJP alliance was at break point, but some independent MLAs who support the ML Khattar government will ensure its survival.

“I met the Chief Minister yesterday. We have already extended our support to CM Manohar Lal-led government. We also discussed the strategy for the Lok Sabha elections. I got the impression that the process of breaking the alliance with JJP has already started”, Haryana Independent MLA Nayan Rawat said on Tuesday after his meeting with the Chief Minister

Nayan Pal Rawat was elected to the Haryana Legislative Assembly from Prithla in the 2019 Haryana Legislative Assembly election as a member and Independent candidate.

Another independent MLA Dharampal Gonder said that the independent MLA were already supporting the BJP led government.

Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) MLA Gopal Kanda claimed that the alliance between the BJP and the JJP was at break point but the BJP can win all 10 Lok Sabha seats from the state on its own. He also said that there would be another meeting with the Chief Minister after which future course of action will be determined.

Sirsa MLA and president, Haryana Lokhit Party, Gopal Kanda said, “…I think the alliance (BJP-JJP) has almost broken. In Lok Sabha elections, BJP will win all 10 seats. Even without JJP, the Haryana government will stay, and all independent candidates will continue to support BJP”.

On March 10, trouble in the BJP Haryana unit was flagged when Brijendra Singh, the former BJP MP from Haryana’s Hisar, joined the Congress after resigning from the ruling party.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won all 10 parliamentary seats while JJP, which had contested the elections in alliance with AAP, could not put up a fight on 7 seats it contested.

The Lok Sabha polls are expected to be held sometime between April and May this year. (ANI)