Amit Shah summons M L Khattar as BJP stares at close fight in Haryana

New Delhi: As the ruling party stared at a close fight in the state, contrary to its expectations, Union Minister Amit Shah has summoned Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar to Delhi on Thursday.

The BJP is leading in 38 seats, while the Congress is ahead in 27 constituencies and was said to be in talks with Dushyant Chautala, the leader of the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), to explore the possibility of forming government. The fledgling Jannayak Janta Party, which fought its maiden assembly polls, was also ahead in 11 seats.

Many ministers of the BJP were trailing and the party was far from the "Mission 75" target it had set.

"We will try to introspect why fell short of the target we had set for ourselves," BJP vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe told NDTV.

For the BJP, the trends in Haryana would be particularly upsetting, given that Prime Minister Narendra Modi upped his campaign in the state in the last few weeks before polling on Monday.

The PM addressed seven rallies in Haryana and concentrated on areas dominated by Jats, who are a sizeable chunk of votes in the state.

According to sources, the BJP is trying to reach out to Dushyant Chautala using its ally Akali Dal, whose chief Parkash Singh Badal had once tried to cobble an alliance of the BJP, Akali Dal and JJP.

Badal has been tasked with negotiating with Chautala, sources say.

Read | JJP’s Dushyant Chautala mops up the Jat vote, emerges kingmaker

"These are just leads...the results will take time. The picture will be clearer later," said BJP spokesperson Naveen Kumar to NDTV.

"If not this time, we will achieve 'Mission 75' in 2024," he added.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar of the BJP asserted that his party would win not just Maharashtra and Haryana but also Jharkhand and Delhi next year.

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