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Former Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala urged the Congress to field a socially and universally respected person in the Rajya Sabha by-elections assuring support from the opposition in the state.
The Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant when Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda won the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat in the Lok Sabha polls. "We want the Congress to play the role of the main opposition party and field a socially and universally respected person in the Rajya Sabha elections so that the people of Haryana know which MLA is with the people and which MLA is with the government. We again say that if the Haryana Congress fights the Rajya Sabha by-election with the right heart, then the defeat of the BJP is certain," Chautala said in a post on 'X'. Chautala was an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana till recently when he pulled out of the government after talks failed between his Jannayak Janta Party (JNM) and the BJP before the Lok Sabha polls. The JNM president said that while the Leader of Opposition claims that the Haryana government does not command a majority, it has stopped short of fielding its candidate for the Rajya Sabha by-election as it says that it "does not have the numbers." "On one hand, Leader of Opposition Bhupendra Hooda says that the Haryana government does not have the majority, and on the other hand, he refuses to contest the Rajya Sabha by-election saying that the opposition does not have the numbers. How can both these things be true because both things are contradictory," Chautala said. "The people of Haryana want to see BJP losing the Rajya Sabha by-election, but Bhupendra Hooda does not want to contest the election at the behest of BJP," he added. Asking the Congress to put up a fight before the BJP in the Rajya Sabha by-election, Chautala said, "There is always victory and defeat in elections, but accepting defeat without fighting, that too when the entire opposition is ready to support the Congress." In the House of 90, the BJP has 39 MLAs, the Congress has 30, the Jan Nayak Janata Party has 10, the Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) has one, and the Indian National Lok Dal has one, along with seven Independents. The BJP which had 41 MLAs initially was reduced to 39 when the Karnal and Rania seats fell vacant following the resignation of two MLAs. Earlier six out of seven Independent MLAs used to support the BJP. However, three Independents withdrew their support in May, which left the BJP having the support of three Independents and one HLP MLA, making it a government of 43 MLAs. The Congress and the BJP won five seats each in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. (ANI)
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