Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) leader and Indian National Students Organisation’s (INSO) president Digvijay Chautala on Thursday said that the upcoming state elections would be a direct contest between the party chief, Dushyant Chautala, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and chief minister, Manohar Lal Khattar.

Chautala said that the assembly elections would be fought on local issues and not nationalism, while interacting with party office bearers and INSO members.

“The fight will be between Khattar and Dushyant and people from Haryana will give Dushyant a chance. Only the JJP can unite people of the state,” he said.

He also added that those who had deserted the JJP for BJP would return to its fold in October. “The ones who left us will return much swifter (than they left) in October,” he said.

Haryana assembly elections are expected to take place in October.

Holding the state government accountable for unemployment, he said that there is a job crisis due to which qualified individuals are being compelled to take up jobs that do not do justice to their qualifications.

“There are no jobs for youngsters in the state. PhD holders are being forced to take up jobs of a sweeper and peon under group D,” said Chautala.

He added that locals from the state were being denied job opportunities by corporate offices in the city, while those from other states are getting a preference. “Gurugram is called a corporate city but not many locals find a space in these offices. If one were to conduct a survey, it would be found that only around 10% Haryanvis are a part of the workforce in these offices. They take people from UP and Bihar, while our youngsters are shown the door,” he said.

Calling JJP a youth party, he said that the party would ensure that the interests of youngsters in the state are taken care of. He also reiterated that the party would introduce a 75% reservation for youth in all private institutes if it comes to power.

Alluding to the recent murder of Congress leader Vikas Chaudhary, Chautala said that there was no check on the spiraling crimes in the state. “Vikas was killed in broad daylight. There is no law and order and crimes are increasing,” he said.

Responding to the comments made by Chautala, BJP spokesperson Jawahar Yadav said that the state government is already giving an incentive to the companies for hiring local youth. “A company that can prove that 50% of its employees are from Haryana is given an incentive of ₹30,000 per hire by the government. For a Schedule Caste candidate, we give ₹36,000. JJP shouldn’t bother to explain to us the concerns of the youth, since their own leader is serving jail time in a recruitment scam in which youngsters were wrongfully denied jobs,” said Yadav.

He also said that JJP could “only dream about a win” in the elections, but the result in October would prove them wrong.

First Published: Jul 25, 2019 21:22 IST