Chandigarh:

The BJP on Wednesday morning issued a three-line whip to MLAs in the Haryana Assembly, ordering them to miss the day’s proceedings in the House.

MLAs have been instructed to miss the grassroots test aimed at assessing the majority status of the new BJP-led government. The whip is considered illegal because no political party can prevent participation in democratic activities. They can only vote straight along party lines.

If the JJP’s MLAs (there are 10 on paper, although reports suggest at least five will break away from the party, form new groups and join the BJP) follow the party whip, it will take the majority in the 90-member House of Representatives from 46 41, which is the current strength of the BJP. A lower majority would ensure passage for the BJP; although even without these it still has these numbers thanks to the support of independents.

Haryana has witnessed a rapid change of government in the past 48 hours, with senior BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar and the entire cabinet, which includes three members of the ) resigned on Tuesday.

Read | BJP Nayab Singh Saini sworn in as new chief minister of Haryana

The party’s national president, Nayab Singh Saini, was chosen as his replacement and was sworn in hours later, with four BJP MPs from the recently dissolved cabinet at his side.

Read | Who is Nayab Saini: 5 facts about the new Haryana chief minister

According to regulations, the ground test will be conducted at 11 a.m. the next day.

Ahead of this Lok Sabha test, the BJP had secured the support of 48 MLAs – 41 MLAs plus seven independents. This does not include the five expected to join JJP.

The immediate cause of the disintegration of Khattar’s government was the failure of the Janata Party-BJP alliance, which was formed after the 2019 parliamentary elections, in which the former emerged as the single largest party but fell six seats behind in gaining absolute seats . most.

The party eventually formed the government with the support of the BJP and was given a number of ministerial posts, with party leader Dushyant Chautala appointed as deputy chief minister. Mr Chautala maintained radio silence for most of yesterday and only emerged after taking oath to thank the people of Haryana.

Read | ‘Working day and night’: Dushyant Chautala on BJP’s Haryana reforms

The alliance reportedly broke down this week as seat-sharing talks for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections failed; the JJP wanted two of the state’s 10 seats, but the BJP was offered only one.

However, sources told NDTV that the BJP is also eyeing the revival of its eternal rival the Congress party in the heartland state. Last week, Congress MP Brijendra Singh quit the BJP citing “compelling political reasons” but joined the Congress after being denied a seat.

Sources said the party hopes the split with the JJP will help break the Jat vote gap between the state party and the Congress, both of which have influence over the community that accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the state’s population.

The state is also home to a large group of farmers, who are unlikely to extend significant support to the BJP given the tension over the MSP (minimum support price) issue. Sources said the BJP hopes to maximize the remaining 80% of votes.

There were also rumors that Khattar would be reassigned to contest the Lok Sabha contest, which may now prove to be true. The two-time former chief minister is likely to contest from the Kurukshetra seat held by Nayab Saini but it is now vacant.

Khattar’s Lok Sabha bow is in line with the BJP’s strategy in recent elections of fielding big-name leaders in key seats to boost the winning factor and create buzz.

Furthermore, Haryana has only 10 Lok Sabha seats, and given the BJP’s ruthless replacement of sitting MPs to avoid anti-incumbency bias, there may be fears that this could see too many disgruntled senior leaders exit and strengthen rivals.

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