Kejriwal-Chautala face-off on cards in Delhi polls

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Janata Jannayak Party (JJP) president Dushyant Chautala, now deputy CM in Haryana, took on the BJP in the last general elections as allies. The two parties, however, will show up as combatants, face to face with each other in the ensuing assembly elections in New Delhi.

Post the assembly elections, a spilt mandate altered the political dynamics in Haryana, turning foes into friends with the JJP and BJP engaging as allies for the sake of forming the government. JJP’s bonhomie with its ally AAP at the time of the Lok Sabha elections is now over.

The rebel Chautala-led JJP, which is predominantly a Jat party, will be BJP’s whip hand to slowdown the ascendance of AAP’s juggernaut in the national capital. Haryana borders Delhi from multiple sides. The Jat community holds influence on many seats in the capital city, especially the ones bordering the state.

JJP’s success in its maiden assembly elections, eventually leading it to share power with the BJP in Haryana, has resulted in a further groundswell of Jat supporters in favour of the fledgeling party. This polarization of Jat votes, the BJP hopes, will help the party leverage upon its strengths to take on Kejriwal.

The AAP and JJP were allies in Haryana, first during a crucial Jind by-election in the state, and then during the Lok Sabha elections. JJP’s Dushyant Chautala and Kejriwal would go to town rubbishing the BJP, both at the Centre and at the state, to the hilt for its ‘failures’.

Dushyant Chautala, whose name figured in the Forbes list announced this weekend, will now be expected to sing paeans for the BJP during the forthcoming elections in New Delhi. But, the JJP isn’t naive to seek a quid pro quo to oppose its once-ally AAP in the capital city. All that is being worked out.

Delhi elections would be JJP’s first attempt to spread its wings outside of Haryana, which is why Dushyant Chautala may be willing to spit venom against Kejriwal’s ‘failure’. Kejriwal too has an option to counter JJP by going soft and even allying with the jailed former chief minister of Haryana OP Chautala and his party, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). The senior Chautala, who is Dushyant’s estranged grandfather, could be the antidote.