Manohar lal Khattar, a low-profile organisation man with active RSS background, on Sunday was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Haryana, where BJP has formed Government for the first time on its own.
Sixty-year-old Khattar, a first-time MlA from Karnal and a non-Jat leader known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki at a function attended by a galaxy of BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah, Union Ministers, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States and veterans lK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.
Nine Ministers, including six of Cabinet rank and three Ministers of State (Independent charge), were also sworn in at the function held at the Mela Ground in Sector 5 of Panchkula town, adjoining Chandigarh.
Six Cabinet Ministers who too were sworn-in on the occasion were Ram Bilas Sharma, Capt Abhimanyu, OP Dhankar, Anil Vij, Narvir Singh and Kavita Jain. Other Ministers of State (MoS) who were administered the oath of office and secrecy are Bikram Singh Thekedar, Krishan Kumar and Karan Dev Kamboj.
Khattar is the 10th Chief Minister of the State, which was created November 1, 1966. He will be Haryana’s first non-Jat Chief Minister in 18 years.
Contesting the Haryana Assembly polls on its own for the first time, the BJP had attained a majority by bagging 47 of the 90 Assembly seats in the State.
The oath ceremony instead of being held at the Haryana Raj Bhawan as is routine, was held at the Mela Ground so that the public could attend it.
During the ceremony, Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained seated on a special dais erected next to the main dais where Khattar and his nine-member Cabinet were sworn in by Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki.
Modi’s Cabinet colleagues - Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, M Venkaiah Naidu, Maneka Gandhi, Dr Harsh Vardhan and VK Singh - were also present. BJP veterans lK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, who are not seen much in the current dispensation of the BJP, were also present at the event.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah, general secretary JP Nadda, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States - Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Anandiben Patel (Gujarat), Dr Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh) and Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan) and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal - also attended the event.
BJP leader, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu was on the same stage as Badal but the two -- who don’t see eye to eye in politics - kept a distance from one another.
Other dignitaries present on the occasion were Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil, former Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, former Deputy Chief Minister Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi, leader of INlD legislative party Abhay Singh Chautala, Haryana Chief Secretary Shakuntala Jakhu, BJP MlAs, saints and representatives of various religious organisations and senior officers of police and civil administration.