Kejriwal accuses BJP, INLD and Congress of splitting Haryana voters on caste

Arvind Kejriwal, who leads the Aam Aadmi Party and is Delhi’s Chief Minister, on Monday accused Haryana’s ruling BJP and the opposition INLD and Congress of dividing voters along caste lines. He was speaking to supporters at Beri in Jhajjar district.

Caste and schools

Kejriwal said the INLD and the Congress presented themselves as parties of the Jats, while the BJP courted non-Jat voters, leaving issues such as health and education off the agenda. That, he said, explained the poor state of government schools in Haryana.

Together with Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satyendra Kumar Jain, he visited three government schools in Beri. He said they were operating in damaged buildings without electricity and with too few teachers, and that parents had told him repairs were rushed through only after word of his visit spread. If the BJP government could not run schools and hospitals, he said, it should hand charge to the AAP, which would improve matters within a month.

An eye on 2019

With the 2019 assembly elections approaching, Kejriwal said people had urged him to work hard to win Haryana, but that he did not work for power. It was up to the people of the state, he said, to vote his party in if they wanted good schools and affordable healthcare. He also claimed that schools and hospitals set up by his Delhi government could compete with private ones.

Speaking to reporters, Kejriwal said INLD MP Dushyant Chautala, who was facing a backlash within his party, was welcome to join the AAP.

What happened next

In the 2019 Haryana assembly election the BJP won 40 seats, the Congress 31 and the Jannayak Janta Party 10. Manohar Lal Khattar remained Chief Minister.

See also: Elections

Originally published on 24 October 2018. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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