Nayab Singh Saini to be new Haryana Chief Minister after ML Khattar resigns

Mangalore Today News Network/NDTV

New Delhi, Mar 12, 2024: Nayab Singh Saini will be the new Chief Minister of Haryana, the party said Tuesday afternoon, hours after his predecessor, senior BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar, and the entire cabinet, stepped down.

 

An influential figure within the OBC, or Other Backward Classes, community, Nayab Saini is the BJP’s Lok Sabha MP from Kurukshetra and was appointed the party’s state boss in October last year.

Mr Saini will be sworn in at 5 pm.

He was selected after a meeting of the BJP’s legislative party, at which junior Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda and National General Secretary Tarun Chugh were told MLAs wanted a new hand at the helm ahead of the Lok Sabha election in April/May and an Assembly election later this year.

The political landscape in Haryana was thrown into flux over the weekend after the ruling BJP-JJP alliance broke up after failed Lok Sabha seat-sharing talks; the JJP of now ex-Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala wanted two of the state’s 10 seats, but the BJP would only surrender one.

Unwilling to give up the second seat (the BJP won all 10 in 2019) and hesitant about sacking Mr Chautala - a move the party felt could anger farmers and the Jat community, which represents around 20 per cent of the population - the saffron party opted to break-up the government.

Mr Khattar’s removal has also been seen as a pre-emptive strike on the anti-incumbency factor - ahead of twin elections this year and negative feedback from MLAs - in a crucial state for the BJP.