Manohar Lal Khattar quits, OBC leader Nayab Singh Saini is new Haryana CM

4 of 13 ministers retained; Anil Vij dropped; no representation to ally JJP

With less than eight months to go for the expiry of the Har­y­ana legislative Assembly’s current term and weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with the party’s state unit chief, Nayab Singh Saini, as the chief minister.

Saini, 54, is an Other Backward Class (OBC) leader. He is a first-term member of the Lok Sabha, elected from Kurukshetra in 2019. He was administered the oath of office in the evening along with five ministers, including Indep­endent Ranjit Singh Chautala. Anil Vij, a senior minister in the Khattar government, did not find a place in the new Cabinet, and walked out of the meeting of the party's legislators.

 

Earlier in the day, Khattar, a Punjabi Khatri, who was a surprise pick to be the state’s first BJP CM in 2014, and continued after the 2019 Assembly polls, resigned along with 13 other members of his Council of ministers. 

In 2019, the BJP had fallen short of the majority mark and formed a coalition government with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP). The BJP retained four of its 13 ministers in the new Council of ministers. No representation was given to the ally JJP, which had three ministers in the outgoing Cabinet, including party leader Dushyant Chautala, who was the deputy CM. The JJP has been keen to contest the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the BJP. The BJP’s state unit has opposed seat-sharing with the JJP. In 2019, the BJP won all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana.

The move suggested that the two parties have parted ways. The JJP called a meeting in Delhi of its leaders following the development, but at least five of its legislators skipped the meeting, indicating a possible rift in the ranks. Party leaders said they would announce their strategy later this week. 

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The BJP has 41 MLAs in the 90-member Assembly while the JJP has 10. The ruling combine also enjoyed the support of six of the seven independents, and is comfortably placed even without the JJP’s support. In a post on X, Chautala thanked the people of the state for giving him the opportunity to serve the state as the deputy chief minister.

Saini’s appointment, party sources said, reflected the BJP’s commitment to accord leadership roles to the OBCs, including in Madhya Pradesh, where it picked Mohan Yadav after the December Assembly polls. They said the choice of Saini, a caste of gardeners (mali), would help the party reach out to the community in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Mohan Yadav, for example, has toured Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the past few months as part of the BJP’s outreach to the Yadav community in these two states.

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According to a BJP leader, Khattar will be given a “big responsibility” soon. There is speculation that he could contest the Lok Sabha polls, just as the BJP announced fielding former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Vidisha. 

In recent years, the BJP has replaced its chief ministers mid-term in Karnataka, Uttar­akhand, Tripura, and Gujarat. In MP’s case, the BJP changed the CM after winning the polls.

Saini was appointed the president of the BJP’s Haryana unit in October with the party replacing Om Prakash Dha­nkar, who hails from the Jat community. In Haryana, the Jats, an influential landed community, comprising an estimated fifth of its population, are known to vote for the Congress, the Indian National Lok Dal, and JJP. 

Leaders from the Jat community lead the three parties. In 2014 and 2019, the BJP attempted to rally the support of the state’s OBCs, SCs, Brahmins and Punjabis, pointing out that Jats helmed the other parties in the fray.