Another jolt for the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) in Haryana, as MLA Devender Singh Babli switches to the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday. Babli's switch comes as the JJP struggles to maintain its position, just a month before the Assembly polls.
Babli, who was MLA from Tohana, was a minister in former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar's government and might be fielded by the BJP in the polls.
BJP is driven by the mindset of development, said Babli while exuding confidence that the party will retain its third term in the state.
Apart from Babli, two other leaders, Sunil Sangwan, whose father Satpal Sangwan is a former Haryana minister, and Sanjay Kablana, also joined the BJP. Sunil Sangwan is in the government service and has put in his papers, an indication that he will be contesting the polls as well. Kablana, too, was in the JJP.
They joined the BJP in the presence of its general secretary Arun Singh, former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, and Haryana unit president Mohan Lal Badoli.
Singh claimed that a pro-BJP mood prevails in Haryana and the party will retain power in the state.
Haryana goes to polls on October 5 and votes will be counted on October 8.
Babli had defeated the then Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala in the 2019 polls by over 50,000 votes in an election in which Jats had mostly voted against the BJP, which still emerged as the single largest party and retained power.
The three leaders who joined the party hail from the Jat community, and the BJP is hopeful that their induction will help it deepen its connection with the state's most populous and influential caste.
In the recent Lok Sabha polls, Babli had supported the Congress candidate Kumari Sailja in the Sirsa constituency, under which his assembly segment falls.
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