Senior BJP leader and former Haryana Minister Om Prakash Dhankar was on Sunday appointed as the party’s state president.The appointment made by national president JP Nadda will come into immediate effect, said an official statement issued by national general secretary Arun Singh.
By appointing Dhankar, the BJP has continued with a Jat face to lead the party in Jatland-Haryana. Dhankar will replace incumbent Subhash Barala, who was also a Jat. Both Dhankar and Barala had lost the Haryana Assembly elections held in October last year. Dhankar was a Cabinet Minister in the BJP Government in Haryana.The appointment is seen as an attempt to balance the caste equations in the State, where politics revolves around Jats and non-Jats.
Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar is a non-Jat while Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala from Jannayak Janata Party is a Jat. The BJP had formed its Government in Haryana for the first time on its own strength in 2014. Five years later, it had returned to power in alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party. Dhankar, who held several key portfolios in the first term of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, has also held positions in the state organisation and the national level , including chief of the BJP’s Kisan Morcha.
Though names of some “non Jat” leaders were also doing the rounds, the party preferred a Jat leader to keep the caste equations balanced.
Dhankar and former Minister Capt Abhimanyu, both leaders from the Jat community, were in the race to become the next state unit chief, but recently the name of Union Minister Krishan Pal Gurjar for the top post was also doing the rounds. Earlier this year, the names of both Dhankar and Capt Abhimanyu were also considered for the coveted seats of the Rajya Sabha, but none of them got the ticket.
Meanwhile, the CM Manohar Lal has congratulated Dhankar over his appointment. In a tweet, Manohar Lal said that he has firm belief that party workers will get the benefit of Dhankar’s vast political experience and the party’s State unit will be further strengthened with his appointment.