JJP issues whip, asks its MLAs to remain absent during confidence vote

The Jannayak Janata Party on Wednesday issued a whip, asking its 10 legislators to remain absent from the House during voting on the confidence motion to be brought by the Nayab Singh Saini government in the Haryana Assembly.

The BJP named Nayab Singh Saini as Haryana's new chief minister on Tuesday, hours after the surprise resignation of Manohar Lal Khattar from the post along with his cabinet ministers.

After taking oath in the evening, Saini said they had presented a letter of support of 48 MLAs to the governor and asked him to convene an assembly session on Wednesday for the BJP government to prove its majority in the House.

The floor-test suggestion was made amid signs that the BJP-Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) alliance in the state might have ended, though there has been no formal announcement yet.

On Wednesday, the JJP issued a whip saying, "All JJP members of the Haryana Legislative Assembly are hereby informed that Confidence Motion in the council of ministers proposed by the government will be brought in the Haryana Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, the 13, March, 2024."

"All members of JJP in the Haryana Legislative Assembly are therefore requested to remain absent positively from the House at the time of voting on a confidence motion on Wednesday," it stated.

In the 90-member state assembly, the BJP has 41 members, and it also enjoys the support of six of the seven independents as well as of lone Haryana Lokhit Party MLA Gopal Kanda. The JJP has 10 MLAs in the House. The main opposition Congress has 30 MLAs while the Indian National Lok Dal has one.

The BJP appears to be comfortably placed in Haryana even without the JJP support.