NEW DELHI: An former ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday termed it a party of thugs and dared BJP parliamentarians of Haryana to seek fresh elections.

Kuldeep Bishnoi, who heads the regional Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) party, snapped its three-year-old alliance with the BJP late last week after BJP refused to honour its written agreement that the two parties would contest 45 seats each in Haryana assembly elections and Bishnoi would be projected as the alliance’s chief ministerial candidate.

“The BJP is a party of thugs. It cheated Chaudhary Bansi Lal, Chaudhary Devi Lal, Om Prakash Chautala and me. It will cheat you too if you vote for it,” Bishnoi, son of former chief minister of the northern state Haryana, Bhajan Lal, said. Bansi Lal, Devi Lal and Chautala were all allies which were dumped by the BJP in the past.

Bishnoi decided to walk off from the alliance after BJP asked him to be reasonable in his demand under the changed political situation, making it clear that HJC cannot be offered more than 15 seats.

Bishnoi’s aides say BJP ticked them into agreeing to contest only two out of 10 Lok Sabha seats of Haryana and ensured they lost both seats to weaken HJC. Bishnoi himself lost from Hisar.

An angry Bishnoi dared all seven BJP MPs to resign and seek re-election. “It was vote for the alliance and not for BJP. If they have guts they should resign and go back to the voters to test the ground reality,” Bishnoi said.

Bishnoi was speaking at a rally held in Ambala town. It was Bishnoi’s first rally with its new ally Haryana Jan Chetna Party headed by former federal minister Vinod Sharma.

Bishnoi threatened to teach the BJP a lesson in the upcoming assembly elections.

BJP which was always a fringe player in Haryana politics is making a concerted effort to come to power on its own for the first time. Political observers, however, feel that mistreating Bishnoi and hooting of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at an official function attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi may go against BJP as Haryana voters see such snubs as their personal interest.

A pre-poll survey last month had predicted 57 seats to the BJP-HJC alliance. Since the two parties share the common vote bank, the split of votes may help the state’s ruling Congress party which is seeking a third straight term in power and its main rival Indian National Lok Dal.

Incidentally, four senior BJP leaders including three federal ministers, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, were present at different locations of the state yesterday to give a boost to BJP’s prospects.

The Election Commission is expected to formally announce this week the election schedule for Haryana, which is likely to be held in the middle of October.