In a lightning-speed politically just days before the announcement of Lok Sabha poll schedule, a change of guard was effected in Haryana, with State BJP chief Nayab Singh Saini sworn in as the new Chief Minister on Tuesday, hours after Manohar Lal Khattar and his Cabinet Ministers resigned from their posts.
Five others took the oath as members of the new Council of Ministers along with Saini. They are BJP leaders Kanwar Pal, Mool Chand Sharma, Jai Parkash Dalal and Banwari Lal and Independent MLA Ranjit Singh Chautala.
The BJP-JJP alliance broke apart in the State, after which Khattar and his Deputy Chief Minister from JJP, Dushyant Chautala, resigned to make way for a new Government.
Chautala was insisting to contest two Lok Sabha seats of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana but the BJP which is currently holding all the 10 Lok Sabha seats has offered only one seat to JJP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Saini on taking oath as the Chief Minister of Haryana.
“Congratulations to @NayabSainiBJP on taking oath as the Chief Minister of Haryana. Wishing him and his team of Ministers the very best for their efforts in fulfilling the aspirations of the people of Haryana,” Modi said on social media.
Saini was administered the oath by Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya during a ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh. He bowed before Khattar and sought his blessings after being sworn in.
On the BJP removing Khattar, the Congress said the “chaos” in the State was a reflection of the “growing people’s angst” against the saffron party and it was time for change in the country.
The party alleged it was a “pre-planned drama” by the BJP and the JJP of breaking the alliance to avoid the consequences of their “failure” and demanded fresh elections under the President’s rule.
Earlier in the day, the BJP named OBC leader Saini (54) as Haryana’s new Chief Minister. He is the party’s State unit president and the MP from Kurukshetra.
Khattar’s second term as the Chief Minister was also to end in October when the Assembly polls were due. Khattar and all 13 other members of the BJP-led council of Ministers submitted their resignations to the Governor as a team of the party’s Central observers arrived in Chandigarh.
In the past as well, the BJP has changed Chief Ministers, and reshuffled Cabinets before Assembly elections to ward off the anti-incumbency factor and rejuvenate State units and leaders.
This was the tactic before polls in Gujarat and Uttarakhand, which the party won, and Karnataka, which it lost.
The selection of Saini — an influential Other Backward Classes leader — also represents the BJP’s focus on caste and OBC equations in each State before an election. The BJP effected similar moves in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh.
Saini’s appointment as the State BJP chief in October was seen as the party’s move to strengthen its hold over the OBC community and non-Jats.
The support of Jats, who are the most populous communities in the State, is largely seen to be divided between the Congress, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).
Along with these factors, the move to pick Saini as the Chief Minister is also being seen as a counter to the anti-incumbency perception against the Khattar dispensation.
The population of the Saini community is around eight per cent in Haryana. The community wields influence in many of Haryana’s northern districts, including Ambala, Kurukshetra and Hisar besides in few other districts.
In 2014, when the BJP had formed its Government for the first time on its own strength in Haryana, the party had picked Khattar, a first-time MLA from Karnal, as the Chief Minister.
At that time, Khattar was picked up ignoring senior leaders like Ram Bilas Sharma, Anil Vij, Capt Abhimanyu and OP Dhankar. In the events which unfolded on Tuesday, Saini was picked to succeed Khattar in a similar fashion.
In the outgoing Khattar Cabinet, Anil Vij, a six-term MLA, is the senior most Minister.
Saini was born on January 25, 1970 in a village called Mirzapur Majra in Ambala district. A law graduate, he enjoys cordial terms with Khattar, with their relationship going back to their RSS days.
