Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 12: A day after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised his government for “functioning with absolute honesty,” the Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar was made to resign and within hours his close confidant and the state BJP chief Nayab Singh Saini was sworn-in as the new chief minister heading a five-member cabinet.
Mr Saini’s swearing-in at a rapidly-assembled ceremony in Chandigarh Tuesday evening, capping a frenetic few hours triggered by the resignation this morning of the Khattar ministry dumping its five years alliance partner the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) led by the deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala.
Mr Khattar rushed to tender the resignation of his ministry to undo the JJP withdrawing its support to the ministry after failed talks over seat-sharing between the two parties in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP, which always wanted to contest all the 10 seats in Haryana on its own, had reluctantly agreed to allot only one seat to the JJP but Mr Chautala insisted on two seats.
The new government led by Mr Saini, 54, will be backed by six independent lawmakers and, potentially, five from the JJP, who are set to cross but are not expected to get cabinet berths. The BJP has 41 MLAs in the 90-member House, in which the majority mark is set at 46. The Congress has 30 and the JJP 10 MLAs. Mr Chautala later said the JJP would put up candidates on all the 10 seats in the Lok Sabha and the details would be announced at a rally in Hisar.
In a significant gesture, Mr Saini – seen as a confidante of the 69-year-old ML Khattar – bent to touch his feet twice, and was hugged in return. And, in addition to Mr Saini, the BJP’s Jai Parkash Dalal, Moolchand Sharma, and Pal Gujjar, and independent MLA Ranjit Singh, took oath as ministers.
Mr Khattar’s stepping down over breakdown of the ruling BJP-JJP alliance is also been seen as another chapter in the BJP’s well-worn election playbook. In the past, the party has changed out 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 Mr 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 made similar moves in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh (this was after it won the elections). In the first instance, it replaced four-time Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and, in the second, in Rajasthan, opted against bringing back former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
Mr Khattar is a two-time Chief Minister of Haryana and his term was to expire in October. Haryana state Assembly elections will follow the Lok Sabha elections and there is also a possibility of the state government recommending for a simultaneous Assembly elections with the Lok Sabha.
The events in Haryana unfolded a day after Mr Modi showered high praises on Mr Khattar and his “vision” for the development of Haryana at an event in Gurgaon during launching of the Haryana section of the Dwarka Expressway on Monday.
Recalling how he and Mr Khattar went a long way, Mr Modi recounted how he used to ride pillion on Mr Khattar’s motorbike, often travelling from Rohtak to Gurgaon. “There were small roads but today the entire Gurugram region is connected to several major national highways, including expressways, which reflects the progressive mindset of Chief Minister, Shri Manohar Lal. Today, the future of every Haryanvi is safe under the leadership of the Chief Minister.”
Mr Khattar too assured Mr Modi that “on behalf of Haryana’s 2.82 crore people, I can assure that the BJP shall win all 10 Lok Sabha seats of Haryana.”
In January, during his video interaction with welfare beneficiaries, the PM, talking to a farmer from Rohtak, described Mr Khattar as “bahut mazboot aadmi (a very strong man)” who ensures people receive the benefits of the schemes launched by the government.
BJP sources said Mr Khattar may be asked to contest the Lok Sabha elections. The decision to replace him was in line with the party’s stand to change its chief ministers after two terms, party sources said. “The party wants to bring in freshness at the leadership as we go to the polls. Khattar is a good organiser, a good administrator, and a clean man. The party has no complaints but it is the BJP’s efforts always to give fresh faces and to provide chances for other leaders,” sources said.
The BJP insiders said while the party was confident of winning all the 10 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, it had concerns about its Assembly election prospects. The polls are scheduled for later this year. “In Haryana, the Lok Sabha elections are not going to be tough for BJP. All 36 significant communities in the state love Prime Minister Modi and support him,” said the leader, but the farmers’ protest and the wrestlers’ agitation could dent the party’s prospects in the Assembly election.
Mr Khattar had contested his first Assembly election from Karnal in 2014 and won in 2019, too. In 2014, the BJP created history by winning a majority in the 90-member Assembly as it bagged 47 constituencies.
During his nine and half years’ tenure, Mr Khattar faced several challenges, unlike his predecessors, especially several major law-and-order problems. There was the Jat reservation agitation in 2016 in which more than 30 people died, clashes between armed forces and followers of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim after he was convicted on charges of rape by a CBI court in Panchkula in 2017 in which more than 40 people lost their lives, the arrest of religious leader Rampal in 2018 during which at least six people died, the farmers’ protest of 2020-’21, last year’s communal violence in Nuh, and the ongoing farmers’ protest. But Khattar prevailed with the backing of the BJP leadership.
In 2019, Mr Khattar played a pivotal role in the Lok Sabha election campaign in Haryana, helping the BJP sweep the state. The victory margins of BJP candidates in eight out of 10 Lok Sabha seats was more than 3.3 lakh votes.
Mr Modi had praised Mr Khattar in 2021 too, saying that “his talent has come to the fore as a chief minister and he works with dedication and innovation, with even the central government adopting the model of some of the Haryana government’s programmes.” At the time too, it was speculated that Khattar might be replaced as the BJP had replaced three CMs, two in Uttarakhand in quick succession and another in Gujarat.
A likely factor in picking Mr Saini to be the new Chief Minister is that his community accounts for an estimated eight per cent of the state population, with sizeable populations in the Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Ambala, Hisar and Rewari districts. Mr Saini is currently the Lok Sabha MP from Kurukshetra.
Immediately after Mr Saini was sworn in, Mr Chautala posted on X thanking the people of Haryana for the “opportunity to serve as Deputy Chief Minister.” “Your support and cooperation for the welfare of Haryana… has always energised me. With limited time, and limited numbers, we worked day and night to protect Haryana’s interests,” he said.
Haryana may have only 10 Lok Sabha seats, but it is a Hindi heartland state and is therefore a crucial battleground for the BJP. This is particularly so since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party set itself a target of 370 Lok Sabha seats (on its own) and 400 with National Democratic Alliance members.
Mr Saini’s political career started nearly three decades back, when he worked to strengthen the BJP’s organisation in Haryana. He rose to become the district general secretary of BJP’s youth wing in Ambala in 2002 and was named the district president in 2005.
He has worked with multiple arms of the party, including the farmers’ wing Kisan Morcha, of which he was the state general secretary. In 2012, he was chosen to lead the party in Ambala as district president. Following several postings at the organisation level, he was elected as an MLA from Narayangarh in the 2014 state polls. In 2016, he was named a state minister.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Mr Saini was fielded from the Kurukshetra constituency. He defeated the Congress’s Nirmal Singh by a margin of nearly 4 lakh votes.
