[h=1]BJP may name non-jat as Haryana CM[/h]NEW DELHI: BJP may prefer someone other than a jat for chief ministership of Haryana should exit poll predictions about the party getting an absolute majority in the 90-strong House come true.
Senior party sources indicated that such a choice will only be in keeping with the overwhelming support that the BJP mustered from non-jats. They said the party, which fielded 27 jats, 19 of them with strong credentials, received a big chunk of votes of the dominant community, which accounts for more than one-fifth of the electorate.
However, the party's strong showing in the state where it has so far been a fringe player, forced to ride piggyback on a non-Congress outfit, has been made possible because of the support it got from other communities. A senior party functionary claimed that dalits, who make up 20% of the electorate, voted overwhelmingly for saffron candidates.
Besides dalits, BJP also succeeded in enlisting significant support from upper castes like Brahmins, Banias and Rajputs as well as non-jat OBCs like Ahirs (Yadavs), Gujjars and Sainis who put together represent almost half the electorate.
The party leadership has also decided to pitch for the inclusion of a jat representative in the central government when Prime Minister Narendra Modi carries out his first ministerial restructuring.
Justifying their preference for a candidate other than jat for the post of CM, sources said dalits switching to BJP prevented Om Prakash Chautala's INLD from building on his formidable jat base. The shift of other non-jatav castes to the BJP column also hurt Congress and Haryana Janhit Congress, both of which had posed itself as bulwark against Chautala's aggressive pro-jat platform.
