Haryana trust vote: JJP issues whip to MLAs to remain 'absent'

Ahead of the crucial floor test of the newly elected Nayan Singh Saini-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Haryana, Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) has issued a whip to its MLAs to remain 'absent' from the state assembly at the time of voting on Wednesday.

Nayab Singh Saini, the Lok Sabha MP from Haryana's Kurukshetra, met Governor Bandaru Dattatreya on Tuesday to formally stake claim to form the government in the state, replacing his predecessor, senior BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar.

He took oath as the Haryana CM at a swearing-in ceremony in Raj Bhawan, Chandigarh.

JJP in its letter to MLAs, said, 'All members of JJP in the Haryana Legislative Assembly are, therefore, requested to remain absent positively from the house at the time of voting on Confidence motion on March 13.'

The newly elected CM Saini said that the BJP-led government in the state has the support of a total of 48 MLAs adding that the Speaker has been urged to conduct the floor test on Wednesday.

"I want to thank PM Modi, party president JP Nadda, Union HM Amit Shah, and other senior leaders of the party for giving me this responsibility. We will work for the development of the state. We have asked the Speaker to conduct the floor test tomorrow at around 11 am, in the Vidhan Sabha. We have informed the Governor about the support of 48 MLAs," CM Saini said.

After the collapse of the BJP and JJP alliance and the subsequent resignation of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former CM Khattar said that the demand of the JJP leaders over the Lok Sabha polls seat allocation may have led to the split of the alliance.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won all 10 parliamentary seats while JJP, which had contested the elections in alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party, could not put up a fight on 7 seats it contested.

The BJP has 41 MLAs in the 90-member House, in which the majority mark is set at 46.