Prior to the Haryana elections, the BJP increases its outreach to the Jat community.
Prior to the Haryana elections: Kiran Choudhary, a former Congress legislator, and her daughter Shruti, a former MP, were welcomed into the BJP.
Prior to the Haryana elections: In an attempt to maintain its standing in the state assembly elections later this year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has gone all out to court the politically influential Jat community after suffering a setback in Haryana, where it lost half of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the recently concluded general elections.
Party leaders who are aware of the facts have pointed to the cadres’ criticism and the party’s recent electoral defeat (it had won all 10 seats in 2019) as the reasons why the BJP, which had previously concentrated on non-Jat populations to strengthen its position in the northern state, is now trying to advance Jat faces.
Former Congress lawmaker Kiran Choudhary and her daughter, former parliamentarian Shruti Choudhary, were admitted into the BJP on Wednesday.
“I made this decision today because the Prime Minister promised India will be developed by 2047. I firmly believe that India will prosper globally. After joining the BJP, Kiran Choudhary stated, “The Prime Minister’s work on public welfare has resulted in the formation of a BJP government in Delhi for the third time.”
Manohar Lal Khattar, the current Union minister and former chief minister of Haryana, Tarun Chug, the national general secretary of the BJP, and other dignitaries attended the event.
I’ve collaborated extensively with Khattar ji. There was a great deal of animosity between us in the past. However, I’ve been inspired by the way he worked,” she continued.
Bansi Lal, the patriarch of Kiran and Shruti Choudhary’s politically powerful Jat family, served as both the defense minister and the chief minister of Haryana in the past.
The Wednesday joining is consistent with the BJP’s push to the Jat community, which comprises 20–25% of the state’s population.
When the party emerged victorious in the 2014 assembly elections and named Khattar chief minister, it deliberately chose to unite the remaining castes in the state. We didn’t have enough votes in 2019 and partnered with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), but we’re changing our strategy going into the polls later this year, a party official said, wishing to remain anonymous.
The functionary stated that the Jat community’s resentment at being passed over for government posts did not lessen with Saini’s appointment as chief minister, an OBC, taking Khattar’s place ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. It was anticipated that Saini’s appointment would strengthen the party’s relationships with the OBCs, who comprise 21% of the population.
“The main conclusion drawn from the LS polls is that the party did not address the concerns of the Jat community, including the reservation issue, the reversal of farm laws following a year of protest, the treatment of athletes, especially women wrestlers, and the unhappiness over the reduction in defense services jobs following the implementation of Agnipath,” the official continued.
The topic of shifting strategies was brought up during the party president JP Nadda’s Monday meeting with state officials and the two election coordinators, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and lawmaker Biplab Deb, according to a second official.
Some BJP leaders, nonetheless, believe the party would have done better to elevate Jat leaders from inside the ranks. “The inductions of other parties and the way they are awarded seats in the Rajya Sabha, election tickets, and even party positions are already causing a lot of pain. The second functionary stated that there is a need to examine the dependence on outsiders.
The party’s Jat opponents, Captain Abhimanyu, OP Dhankar, and former state unit chief Subhash Barala, the functionary continued, ought to have been “given prominence in the state as well as the Center.”
“There is potential to support homegrown leaders who are familiar with the ideology and party’s discipline, as two of the three turncoats who were fielded—Ranjit Singh from Hisar and former Congress MP from Sirsa Ashok Tanwar—lost the Lok Sabha elections,” the second functionary stated.
With the JJP’s help, the BJP was able to create the Haryana government in 2019. With 40 members out of the 90-member assembly, the BJP was counting on 10 JJP lawmakers to continue in administration. With 47 seats gained by the party in 2014, they were well-positioned to form government.
