New Delhi: Nayab Singh Saini will take oath as Haryana chief minister at 10 am on October 17, sources said on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders will be present on the occasion. Senior BJP leaders from other BJP-ruled states will also be present with Mr Saini on the occasion.
This will be Mr Saini’s second term; his first term began in March, when Manohar Lal Khattar stepped down to contest the Lok Sabha elections. Mr Saini was then seen as a surprise choice to take over the party’s reins, especially when the general elections and assembly polls are around the corner.
There had been speculation after the election – and in the wake of rumours of an ineffective government and caste equations – that he would be replaced, but BJP sources said Mr Saini would be given a second chance after playing a key role in the party’s big win.
He was first chosen for the post about 200 days before the election; his selection was partly due to Mr Khattar stepping down (and getting a Lok Sabha seat in return) and also the BJP’s traditional pre-poll leadership reshuffle to head off anti-incumbency.
Some state leaders argued in favour of Mr Saini, saying he had implemented schemes benefiting traders, the youth, backward classes and government employees, helping to head off anti-incumbency that had accumulated over the years against Mr Khattar’s government.
The next step for the BJP will be to decide on the Haryana Cabinet.
There can be a maximum of 14 ministers, including the chief minister. This leaves 13 posts, of which the BJP will need at least 11 new faces, as only Mahipal Dhanda and Moolchand Sharma managed to save their seats in the first Saini government.
Balancing caste equations and demands of communities while forming a government is not easy, but the BJP has done so successfully in the recent past, and will have to do so in Haryana too.
The BJP (eventually) registered a landslide victory in the 2024 Haryana Assembly election, for which counting of votes took place on Tuesday. Exit polls predicted a clear win for the Congress and the opposition party took an early lead. But by 10 am, the situation changed.
The BJP eventually pulled off a historic victory in the Assembly elections for the third time in a row, winning 48 of the state’s 90 seats; Haryana had never elected the same party three times in a row before.
The Congress was reduced to 37 seats – six more than it won in 2014, but it was a poor performance as the party had to win at least 55 seats, far above the majority mark of 46.
Speaking in Delhi after the Haryana victory, PM Modi heaped praise on party workers and supporters and attacked the Congress, which he called, among other things, a “parasitic party” that wins only with the support of its alliance partners.
After the Haryana victory, the Congress has been facing severe criticism from its allies, especially the Shiv Sena (UBT). The Congress and the Thackeray Sena are expected to contest next month’s Maharashtra elections together.
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