By IANS,
Chandigarh : After intense speculation about their future, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday announced that it was snapping its alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).
The announcement followed mounting differences between the two parties. They will now contest the coming assembly elections separately.
“We have broken our tie-up with INLD in Haryana and will contest the assembly polls alone. This happened not because of us but because of the rigid approach of INLD over sharing of seats,” said Vijay Goyal, the BJP leader in-charge of the party affairs in Haryana.
Addressing reporters here, he said: “Our party workers were not happy with the alliance. Many meetings were held to persuade them to increase our share of seats but the INLD refused to budge, resulting in this break-up.”
The development came two days after Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia dissolved the assembly following a cabinet recommendation. The term of the present assembly and the government would have ended in March 2010.
Fresh elections are likely in October along with the Maharashtra polls.
Goyal said the BJP would contest from “maximum number of seats” in Haryana. “Our foremost task will be on preventing the Congress from coming to power.”
INLD general secretary Ajay Chautala denied the BJP’s allegation. “We do not know the reason behind the BJP move. There was no problem from our side.
“It is strange they have not communicated anything to us and not even given us an indication of this development. We have to move on and we will decide our future strategy very soon,” said Chautala, son of former chief minister Om Parkash Chautala.
A senior BJP leader told IANS that the senior Chautala refused to allocate to BJP more than 30 seats out of the total 90. The BJP, the source said, wanted 45 seats to contest.
This is second time the INLD and BJP have parted ways in Haryana. The alliance swept the 1999 Lok Sabha elections winning all 10 seats. However, the alliance broke up in 2004.
Both in the 2004 Lok Sabha and the 2005 assembly elections, the INLD and BJP suffered badly. Both got together again this year during the Lok Sabha battle but could not win even a single seat.
The general elections saw the Congress in the lead in nearly 60 assembly segments. The INLD and BJP led in seven segments each.