Chandigarh/New Delhi, June 14
The Bharatiya Janata Party-Haryana Janhit Congress (BJP-HJC) alliance in Haryana seems to be under threat.

Ram Bilas Sharma, Haryana BJP chief

The BJP state leadership has advocated that the party should go to the Assembly polls alone during a meeting with party president Rajnath Singh, HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi has asked his party leaders to be ready to contest all 90 seats in the state Assembly. The Assembly elections in the state are slated for October. At a meeting called by Rajnath Singh to decide the fate of the BJP-HJC alliance in New Delhi today, BJP leaders from the state, including party's newly elected MPs, said the formula of 45-45 seat sharing and the projection of HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi as the Chief Minister was no longer "workable or acceptable", said sources.

Party leaders, it is learnt, told him that either Bishnoi should accept fewer seats or merge his party with the BJP. They said Bishnoi had lost his claim over the Chief Minster's chair after losing the Hisar seat in the parliamentary elections.

Barring Union Minister of State Rao Inderjit Singh, who could not make it for the meeting, all other MPs were present at the meeting.

After a two hour plus meeting with Rajnath Singh, Haryana BJP chief Ram Bilas Sharma said the decision on alliance with the HJC and the CM candidate was likely in three to four days. "All options are open. The Central leadership will take the final call on the fate of the alliance and related issues," said Sharma.

A majority of state leaders are also against any alliance with the Chautalas-led INLD, which won two seats and gathered 22.9 per cent votes. Party sources said the BJP was keeping a close watch on the HJC's moves but would not make the first move towards breaking the alliance. Among the issues that the BJP decided to raise in these elections is the lopsided caste-based development in the Hooda regime.

The BJP seems to have concluded that Congress' decision to stay with Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the CM candidate will help the saffron party. In the event of a three-cornered, the INLD and the Congress will now fight for the same vote-bank. Therefore, the party is thinking is offering the HJC around 15 to 20 seats. In case, Bishnoi clamours for a bigger share, he may be asked to merge with BJP.

Another question before the party is whether or not to project a CM candidate. The names of many state leaders, including Sharma, Captain Abhimanyu Singh and Union Ministers Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishanpal Gujjar, are doing the rounds. The problem before the Central leadership is that if a state leader gets projected, other aspirants may work against him to spoil overall prospects of the party, a senior party leader said.

Currently, all aspirants are busy, projecting their individual achievements with the help of supporters and promotional rallies and building their cases. However, top party sources said any decision on the issue will only be taken after alliance issues with the HJC are sorted out. “If we remain with the HJC, they will be part of discussions on the CM candidate,” they said. “The Assembly poll is fought on different issues. A lot depends on who is projected as the CM candidate,” they say. Another factor is that AAP, which registered a dismal performance with 4.2% votes, has still not decided on whether it would fight the Haryana Assembly poll.

Haryana BJP leaders meet Rajnath

• Haryana BJP leaders meet party chief Rajnath Singh in Delhi
• Say the formula of 45-45 seat-sharing and projection of HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi as the CM candidate not acceptable