Haryana: Nayab Saini to be sworn in as new CM today

Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party president and OBC leader Nayab Singh Saini was picked as the next chief minister on Tuesday, 11 March, hours after Manohar Lal Khattar and his cabinet ministers submitted their resignations.

Saini, who is an MP from Kurukshetra, was unanimously elected as the leader of the state BJP legislature group and will be sworn in later in the day, party MLAs Subhash Sudha and J.P. Dalal told reporters.

Known as Khattar’s confidant in Haryana, Saini emerged as the elected leader following a BJP legislative party meeting in Chandigarh. Union minister Arjun Munda and BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh were dispatched by the BJP leadership to facilitate a smooth power transition in Haryana.

The political landscape in Haryana underwent an upheaval due to the dissolution of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party–Jannayak Janta Party alliance.

The alliance, as per Haryana watchers, ended due to unsuccessful negotiations on seat sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The JJP sought two of the state’s 10 seats, but the BJP was unwilling to concede.

The end of the BJP–JJP alliance was anticipated by many including Congress leader Deepender Hooda. Hooda, while addressing a rally in Sirsa in December 2023, had predicted that the BJP–JJP alliance would break up before the Lok Sabha polls.

“At the behest of the BJP, JJP and Indian National Lok Dal will again come separately to dent the Congress votes…” Hooda had said.

The removal of Khattar is also being seen as a proactive measure taken by the BJP high command against the looming anti-incumbency factor, given the upcoming election, and concerns about negative feedback from BJP MLAs.

With inputs from PTI.