With BJP's Manohar Lal Khattar taking oath as the chief minister and JJP's Dushyant Chautala as Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana, the focus has now shifted to Cabinet formation and possible Ministers in the new Cabinet.
The MLAs of both the parties are now eying cabinet berth and hectic lobbying is on for the new positions in the Government. Chief Minister Kharttar is in the process of meeting senior BJP leaders in New Delhi over allocation of cabinet berths.
Sources said that there will be 13 Cabinet Ministers in the BJP-JJP cabinet headed by Khattar.
Two or a maximum of three MLAs from the JJP will be given Cabinet berths. As of now, none of the Independents who are supporting the government will get Cabinet position. They may later be accommodated in some Boards or Corporations.
Sources in the BJP said that a balance of various castes and communities is being looked at while finalising the list, which is expected to be sent to national president Amit Shah and working President JP Nadda for final approval.
Senior BJP leader and six-time party legislature Anil K Vij is the senior most leader of the state BJP and is certain to get an important department in the new Government. Two- time MLA and former Vidhan Sabha Speaker Krishan Pal Gurjjar and former Minister Banwari Lal are also expected to secure cabinet berth. Banwari Lal comes from SC community.
There are 25 MLAs from the Jat community who have been elected to the State Assembly. Of these, the Congress has the biggest chunk of nine MLAs, while five each were elected on BJP and JJP tickets. Key Jat leaders from the BJP outgoing Ministers Captain Abhimanyu from Narnaund and Om Prakash Dhankhar from Badli and Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala from Tohana lost the election. As Jat community would get represent in cabinet berth from JJP, no minister is expected from BJP side if this community.
Similarly, no Minister is expected from Mewat as BJP, yet again, failed to open its account in Mewat, with the Congress winning all three seats Nuh, Punhana and Ferozepur Jhirka in the district. THis
Having put five out of seven Assembly seats in the BJP’s kitty, people of Ahirwal’s Rewari and Mahendragarh districts are now eying a Ministerial berth in the second tenure of Khattar-led State Government. Sources in BJP said all five MLAs have begun lobbying for the post, but BJP MLA from Rewari’s Bawal (reserved) seat, Banwari Lal, and Mahendragarh’s Nangal Choudhary MLA, Abhay Singh Yadav are the strong contenders for Ministerial berth. Banwari Lal is one of the two Ministers of the previous Khattar Government who managed to retain his seat in this Assembly poll. He also served as Public Health Engineering Minister in the previous Government. Banwari, a loyalist of Union Minister Rao Inderjit, had trounced former Minister and Congress nominee ML Ranga by a huge margin of 32,245 votes.
Bureaucrat -turned -politician Abhay Singh Yadav who has won the poll battle for the second time is stated to be in the good books of Khattar and is likeley to find a place in the Cabinet.
Professor Dr Harikesh Panghal of Vaish PG College, Bhiwani said that Abhay has a better chance to be elevated if Mahendragarh is given representation in the Khattar Cabinet. Rao Inderjit and Abhay Singh do not have good rapport. So, Rao may lobby for Narnaul MLA and his confidant, Om Prakash Yadav, if it comes to a Ministerial berth from Mahendragarh district. In the 2014 Assembly elections, the BJP had made a clean sweep by clinching all seven seats in Rewari and Mahendragarh districts.
JJP EYEING 3 CABINET BERTHS
Closed-door parleys continued among JJP leaders till late Monday evening to choose their ministers. Sources say the party will get at least three ministerial berths, including that of Dushyant. The JJP has won 10 seats in the newly elected Assembly. Six of them are from Jind and Hisar districts, and one each from Charkhi Dadri, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Fatehabad.
One of the Ministers from JJP quota would be a Dalit. The JJP has four Dalit MLAs -- Anoop Dhanak from Uklana, Ram Karan from Shahabad, Ram Niwas from Narwana and Ishwar Singh from Guhla. MLAs Ram Kumar Gautam and Ishwar Singh are two probable candidates from the JJP for the Ministerial post.
Each one of them carries weight in their own right. Dhanak is among the founding members of the JJP. Ram Karan has defeated BJP Minister Krishan Bedi by a margin of 37,127 votes, while Ram Niwas won by a margin of 30,692 votes. Ishwar Singh is a former Rajya Sabha member.
Another potential ministerial candidate is “giant-slayer” Ram Kumar Gautam, who defeated Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu by a margin of 12,029 votes. He is the national vice president of JJP and also MLA from Narnaund Assembly constituency in 2005.
Also, it is difficult to ignore Tohana legislator Devinder Singh Babli, who has defeated senior BJP leader Subhash Barala by a big margin of 52,302 votes. After the loss, Barala resigned as state BJP president. “As Dushyant became Deputy Chief Minister, his mother Naina Chautala may not join the Cabinet,” a party leader said on the condition of anonymity.
Naina Singh Chautala won the election from the Assembly Constituency Badlada by 13704 votes. Naina has become MLA for the second consecutive time. Earlier in the 2014 assembly elections, she was elected MLA from Dabwali assembly constituency. Along with Dushyant and Naina, the JJP has two more Jat legislators Jogi Ram Sihag and Amarjeet Dhanda.
But they have a slender chance of making it to the Cabinet.