BJP chief Amit Shah today said the party and the JJP would be allies, and Dushyant Chautala's outfit would get the deputy chief minister's post.

The chief minister's post will stay with the BJP.

The government-making drama in Haryana moved to New Delhi today as Chautala met Shah.

The BJP won 40 seats yesterday and needed six more MLAs to reach majority. Chautala's 10 MLAs and the seven Independents that the BJP is trying to bring on board - they were earlier in the BJP - could take the party's House tally to 57 out of 90. Shah said the BJP has the support of the Independents.

While speculation swirled, JJP spokesperson Prateek Som told the news channel NDTV that his leader was not after any post. The fledgling party floated in 2018 wanted 75 per cent quota for Haryana residents in jobs and an old-age pension scheme. Chautala too said in the morning that the party which agrees to the common minimum programme will get his support.

If the job quota for Haryana residents was the real decider, then the Congress would have been Chautala's natural pick. The 75 per cent quota was in the manifesto of the Congress. The party won 31 seats and would need Chautala and the Independents.

All morning, the JJP officially refused to say if it was in talks with the BJP or the Congress, but sources close to Chautala told this website that he had been approached by both national parties. “Every party is approaching them (JJP). They should ally with whosoever concedes to their demand. I think the big parties should support JJP and give the newcomer a chance,” the source said.

The BJP is not averse to reservations in general, but has been tight-lipped about the quota. The state is dominated largely by Jats, though they form only one-third of Haryana's population.

Kanda sideshow

Gopal Kanda, the chief of the Haryana Lokhit party, today announced his support for the BJP. Kanda, a businessman-politician, was accused of harassment and abetment to suicide of Geetika Sharma, an airhostess in the political leader'snow defunct MDLR airline service.

Brickbats started flying from all corners. All India Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev lambasted the BJP for the “alliance” in a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah.

“The same party which gave the slogan of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao is now enthroning those who have exploited women. This greed for power is very unfortunate. Perhaps this is why the NCRB numbers say that the central and state governments are a complete failure in stopping the crimes, especially those related to women safety,” her letter posted on Twitter read.

In 2009, Kanda was a junior minister in the Congress government in Haryana. He was made to resign in 2012 after he was named in the suicide letter by Sharma and was made an accused in the case, for which he went to jail.

Perhaps too late in the day, but sources in the BJP came out and said that they had not solicited Kanda's support. He had offered his support.