'Expelled' JJP leader joins BJP in Haryana

Mahesh Chauhan, a leader of the BJP's ally JJP, along with several of his supporters, joined the saffron party in Gurugram on Friday, with state BJP chief O P Dhankar welcoming them into the party-fold.

Talking to reporters in Gurugram, Dhankar said Chauhan was a key aide of Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala.

Replying to a question, he asserted that the BJP-JJP alliance is on strong footing and ''will remain so''.

Later, in a tweet in Hindi, Dhankar said, ''Bhai Mahesh Chauhan, a resident of Bhora Kalan, who was a special assistant to the deputy chief minister and one of the founding members of the Jannayak Janata Party, along with his supporters, joined @BJP4Haryana at the party office in Gurugram today.'' Chauhan said he had no issues with his previous party, but wanted to join a national outfit and maintained that he had good relations with JJP president Ajay Singh Chautala for nearly three decades.

Chauhan told reporters in Gurugram that he was impressed by the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) policies and the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

''I have quit the JJP and joined the BJP,'' he said.

Chauhan said nearly 250 JJP workers, of whom 42 were office-bearers of the party who resigned from their posts 10 days ago, joined the BJP along with him.

Talking to reporters in Chandigarh, senior JJP leader Digvijay Singh Chautala said Suresh Kumar was appointed as a special assistant in the deputy chief minister's office recently in place of Chauhan, who was inactive.

He said Chauhan was expelled from the party on September 1.

''Someone who has been expelled is free to go anywhere and join any outfit, whether it is the BJP or the Congress. Therefore, to say that Chauhan has quit our party will not be correct,'' Digvijay Chautala said.

The JJP, which has 10 MLAs in the 90-member Haryana Assembly, had extended support to the BJP and later, joined the coalition government after the saffron party fell short of a majority on its own in the 2019 polls, winning 40 seats.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)