A confident Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, hopeful of coming back to power in the state, on Tuesday filed his nominations papers from the Karnal assembly seat .
Accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other senior BJP leaders and supporters, Khattar exuded confidence after filing the papers, saying that voters would ensure his victory with a bigger margin this time.
"I expect people will shower more love and blessings on me this time. I feel people will ensure a victory for me with more number of votes than the last time," he said.
To a question on the BJP''s target of winning over 75 seats in the 90-member assembly, the CM said he had left it to people to decide to what extent they wanted their party go beyond the target.
Earlier, before filing his nomination papers, Khattar performed a ''havan'' and addressed a public gathering in the presence of Union minister Narendra Tomar and Adityanath.
Born in Rohtak district, he had contested the Assembly elections from Karnal in 2014. He had secured 82485 votes won the Karnal seat with a margin of 63,736 votes by defeating Jai Parkash Gupta Karnal of INLD who secured 18712 votes.
TARGET OF 75 PLUS IS ACHIEVABLE SAYS YOGI
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who accopmpanied Khattar for filing the nomination papers, lauded him for giving "a new direction" to Haryana in the past five years.
"Given the kind of enthusiasm among people, there is no doubt that the target of 75 plus is achievable," said Adityanath while congratulating Khattar for getting re-nominated from Karnal. "The BJP will form the government in Haryana again. Under the leadership of Khattar, the party will achieve the 75-plus target," Adityanath added.
INTERESTS OF BJP LEADERS DENIED TICKET WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF
To placate BJP leaders denied tickets for the assembly polls, Khattar assured them that the party will keep their interests in mind once the elections are over.
To a question on resentment among the ticket aspirants who were denied nomination, Khattar said, "It is natural that the number of ticket aspirants goes up when the atmosphere is in favour of the party. But our party workers are disciplined. Everybody knows that one person gets ticket from one assembly seat only. If there is any issue anywhere, we are constantly in touch with them."
Khattar further said, "I expect any party leader who even though did not get a BJP ticket considers the party like his mother. We would ensure their 'maan-samman' (honour). After elections, their ' maan-samman' will be kept in the party and the government."
In the BJP's first list of 78 candidates, two ministers Vipul Goel and Rao Narbir Singh were among seven MLAs who had been denied ticket. While Goel was sitting MLA from Faridabad, Rao Narbir Singh represented Badshahpur constituency in Gurgaon district.
Besides, Deputy Speaker Santosh Yadav, who represented Ateli constituency in Mahendergarh district, too was denied party ticket to re-contest from the seat.
Khattar, who has been re-nominated from Karnal, said the BJP has announced candidates for 78 seats and the nominees for remaining 12 seats will be announced soon.
To a question on three Olympians given nominations by the BJP, Khattar said these three are top class players in their respective fields. "We have fielded them in these elections... definitely, they will win the polls with a huge margin," he said.