Had no choice but to back BJP in 2019: Dushyant Chautala

Former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, addressing a rally at Haryana’s Jind to mark the eighth foundation day of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) on Sunday (December 7, 2025), said he had no choice but to forge an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019 to prevent defection in his party. He added that those who saw his party as a threat tried to label the move as a “conspiracy”.

Saying that he would prefer to speak from his heart at the foundation day instead of making a speech, Mr. Chautala demanded to know from the audience whether they really had a choice but to support the BJP. “The BJP has been in power at the Centre for the past 11 years. You know how it runs the government. Do you think we had a choice?” asked Mr. Chautala, adding that seven out of its 10 MLAs, who left the party before the Assembly polls last year, would have defected earlier if he had not supported the BJP government.

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“We would have lost our symbol and the party would have finished,” quipped Mr. Chauala.

The JJP, which supported the BJP to form government in 2019, drew a blank in 2024 Assembly poll facing the ire of its core voters for its “anti-farmer” stance during the year-long stir against the Centre’s now-withdrawn farm laws and for the support to the BJP government.

Mr. Chautala said he had extended support to the BJP to fulfil the promises made to the people and kept the doors open for them in Chandigarh during its four-and-a-half-year stint in power. Raking up the issue of farmers agitation, he added that even if he had quit the State government, it could still run with the support of the seven Independent MLAs.

Mr. Chautala said his party was open to support the Congress as well, but they did not have the numbers. “Ups and downs are part of the politics. Chaudhary Devi Lal was in power for only over six years in his six decade long political career. The drawing politics weighed on our ground politics,” he said, alleging that the BJP returned to power through “match-fixing”.

JJP national president Ajay Singh Chautala sharply criticised both the BJP and Congress, stating that Congress was responsible for enabling the formation of the BJP government in Haryana. Addressing the crowd, he said that Congress leaders themselves colluded with the BJP, sinking their own party, and now the BJP was busy exploiting the State.

Dr. Chautala said Haryana today is witnessing a “jungle raj” where incidents of theft, robbery, loot, and murder had become routine. Questioning the government’s claims, he said: “If this is the state of law and order, who will guarantee the safety of Haryana’s people ?”

He accused the BJP government of being anti-farmer, saying that farmers were not even recovering the cost of cultivation. He highlighted that thousands of acres remained waterlogged without relief months after the flood, and the government had failed to even drain the water in many regions. He further said that despite spending crores on the recent visit of the Prime Minister to Haryana, “the Prime Minister did not announce even a single rupee for the state’s development.”