Sacked Border Security Force jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav, who contested against Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar from the Karnal Assembly constituency, on Saturday quit the Jannayak Janta Party, alleging that its leader Dushyant Chautala had “betrayed the people” by joining hands with the BJP.

“I want to tell my comrades who joined the Jannayak Janta Party, that perhaps we made a mistake,” Yadav said in a video he shot from his wife’s mobile phone. “Dushyant Chautala says he follows [former Haryana Chief Minister] Devi Lal’s principles, but he has betrayed his supporters and the people of Haryana. As soon as he decided to ally with the BJP, I have quit the party.”

Yadav said that he had been forced to shoot the video from his wife’s mobile phone because his Facebook account was blocked due to the elections.

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“The 10 seats that the JJP won was on the basis of Devi Lal’s name, it was not for Dushyant Chautala or the BJP,” Yadav said. “But Chautala has betrayed the whole of Haryana...we are very sad about this. And we also vow that in the time to come, we will finish the JJP in Haryana.”

Yadav claimed that he did not campaign for his Karnal seat because he had come to realise that the Jannayak Janta Party was a “B-team” of the BJP. “They [JJP] should have stayed in the Opposition,” he said, requesting his supporters to quit the Chautala-led party too.

The BJP won 40 out of the 90 seats in the Haryana Assembly, falling short of the majority mark by six seats. The Congress won 31 seats, and the Jannayak Janta Party 10.

The Jannayak Janta Party and the BJP on Friday agreed to form an alliance, along with eight Independents, to form a government in the state. The BJP also agreed to let Chautala take the deputy chief minister’s post. On Saturday, the BJP Legislative Party elected Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar as its leader. Khattar will now approach Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya to stake claim to form a campaign.

The Congress also had on Friday described the Jannayak Janta Party as BJP’s “B-Team”. “When the BJP wants to gain power by dividing the society, sometimes Raj Kumar Saini and sometimes the JJP-Lok Dal will stand as a puppet,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted. “The people now have come to know the reality.”

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