Once dubbed 'political lightweight', Saini shows heft as BJP wins Haryana

Saini, a low-profile Other Backward Class (OBC) leader was BJP's state unit chief and Kurukshetra Lok Sabha MP before he became CM

A month before the polls in Haryana, a video surfaced on social media of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Karan Kamboj, visibly upset at being denied a party ticket and refusing to shake Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini’s hand. Many viewed this as evidence that Saini was a “political lightweight” within his own party and that the BJP's central leadership might scapegoat him for what appeared to be an impending defeat in the state.

In mid-March, just over two months before Haryana’s 10 Lok Sabha seats were set to go to the polls on May 25, the BJP’s central leadership made a bold move: They replaced Manohar Lal Khattar, a Punjabi, as chief minister, with his one-time protégé, Saini.

 

Saini, a relatively low-profile leader from the Other Backward Class (OBC) community, was then serving as the party’s state unit chief and represented Kurukshetra in the Lok Sabha.

However, the BJP’s Lok Sabha performance in Haryana turned out to be its worst since 2014. The party managed to secure only half of the state’s seats, suffering a nearly 12 percentage point drop in vote share compared to the 2019 elections. Saini, meanwhile, managed a win in an Assembly bypoll for Karnal, the seat Khattar had vacated.

After the general elections, the party persisted with the 54-year-old Saini, who embarked on an extensive statewide campaign, rolling out a series of welfare measures aimed at placating the anger among farmers and youth, and reaching out to Scheduled Castes and OBCs.

On Tuesday, Saini’s efforts appeared to have paid off as he led the BJP to its best-ever performance in the state, securing 48 seats, one more than the party’s previous record of 47 seats in 2014. His own victory came from Ladwa in Kurukshetra, where he won by over 16,000 votes, wresting the seat from the Congress. His win was all the more notable as eight of his Cabinet ministers and the Assembly Speaker lost their seats; only two of his ministers emerged victorious, while four others had been denied tickets.

As chief minister, Saini has rolled out a number of high-profile initiatives, including a scheme to provide employment and entrepreneurship opportunities to Agniveers and a proposal to purchase an additional 10 crops at minimum support price, making Haryana the only state to buy 24 crops at MSP. The BJP also promised subsidised cooking gas cylinders at Rs 500, monthly financial assistance of Rs 2,100 for women, and 200,000 government jobs for youths.

“Aath tareekh ko janata degi jawab, aur yeh kahenge EVM hai kharab (The people will respond on October 8, and the Congress will blame EVMs for its defeat),” Saini said confidently on October 6.

Ahead of the polls, the BJP affirmed that Saini would remain chief minister if the party retained power, though senior leader Anil Vij had also expressed interest in the role.

Born on January 25, 1970, in Ambala’s Mirzapur Majra village, Saini has climbed steadily through the party ranks. He served as a minister in the Khattar Cabinet from 2014 to 2019 and was elected to the Haryana Assembly from the Naraingarh constituency in 2014. In October 2023, he was appointed the Haryana BJP chief, a strategic move by the party to consolidate its support among OBC communities and non-Jats.