Naina Chautala, a key leader of the Jannayak Janata Party and mother of party chief Dushyant Chautala, said the JJP will keep its options open in the event of a hung assembly in the state, where early trends showed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading in 39 seats, the Congress in 32 and the JJP in 9.
With a party needing 46 seats to form the next government, this puts the JJP in a position of playing kingmaker if the trends hold.
“Initial trends indicate that the JJP is performing on expected lines. But we will not commit to anything. It is too early. We will wait and watch till 3pm, when the entire picture will be clear,” Naina Chautala, who is contesting from Badhra assembly segment and is leading in the initial rounds, said over phone.
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Asked if the JJP would prefer to extend support to the BJP or the Congress, the JJP leader declined comment.
In response to a question about whether he can emerge as a compromise chief ministerial candidate, news agency ANI quoted Dushyant Chautala as saying: :I have not had any discussions with any one. Decision will be taken only after the final numbers are out.”
Earlier in the day, taking a shot at the BJP, Dushyant said the ruling party’s ambitious bid to cross 75 seats in the state was failing.
Dushyant was leading from his seat Uchana Kalan in initial rounds of poling, ahead of the BJP’s sitting legislator Prem Lata, wife of former Union minister Birender Singh.
Another JJP nominee, Ram Kumar Gautam, was leading from Narnaund against the state finance minister Captain Abhimanyu.
The trends suggest that the JJP, which is an offshoot of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), seems to have completely appropriated the party’s Jat vote bank.
