Have no such plans: JJP's Chautala on supporting BJP in Haryana

Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which won 10 seats in the Haryana elections, is set to play a key role in the state politics less than a year after it was formed in November last year. Chautala spoke to Sunetra Choudhury about his party’s course of action.

Edited excerpts:

Have you had any conversation with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)? Has anyone called you?

No, we have not had any kind of conversation with the BJP till now.

Are you open to supporting the BJP?

We have not decided on that front at all. I have no such plans of supporting [the BJP].

Is it true that the BJP has asked the Badals of the Shiromani Akali Dal to speak to you?

I have not spoken to anybody. We made it clear that all our MLAs [members of legislative assembly] will sit together...we will have our legislative [party] meeting and then decide the course of action.

But will that not be too late? Gopal Kanda, the independent MLA from Sirsa, was flying to Delhi and will extend his support to the BJP...

We started our journey just 11 months ago. We have come so far because we have been sensible and done everything in a proper way. So we will also move forward in the same way. We will talk to all; we will do it sensibly.

When you formed the JJP, did you imagine that you would get 10 out of the state’s 90 seats and your parent party, the Indian National Lok Dal, would get just one?

When the journey started on November 17 [2018], my father [Ajay Singh Chautala] said we will build the party from scratch. I think we can say today that we have managed to fulfil that dream. We worked towards that every day.