Nayab Singh Saini, the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will be the next Haryana Chief Minister. The oath ceremony is expected to take place by evening today. Along with Saini, two Deputy Chief Ministers, other Cabinet ministers are also likely to take the oath of office.
Nayab Singh Saini represents the Kurukshetra Assembly. An RSS member, Saini has worked in various departments of the BJP and been loyal to the saffron party.
In a fast-paced political development, Manohar Lal Khattar along with his entire Cabinet resigned from their posts on Tuesday amid a rift in its alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) possibly over the seat-sharing issue.
Former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar proposed Saini's name for the next chief minister of the state, reports have said.
The now-resigned Haryana Cabinet comprised 14 ministers, including Khattar and three members of the Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala-led JJP.
A new cabinet is likely to be sworn in at the oath-taking ceremony to be held at the governor's residence later in the day, sources said.
Five MLAs of the JJP are learnt to have skipped the meeting called by the party in New Delhi. Several BJP leaders had earlier maintained that party would fight all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Union minister Arjun Munda, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh, who have been appointed as observers by the party, as well as BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Barala attended the legislative party meeting at Haryana Niwas.
Will Khattar contest from Karnal Lok Sabha seat
After Khattar's resignation, reports have said that he may contest as the BJP's candidate from the Karnal Lok Sabha seat in the upcoming general elections.
However, a while ago, Kanwar Pal, who was education minister in the Haryana government, told reporters outside Haryana Niwas after submitting his resignation that Khattar will remain chief minister.
A look at numbers in Haryana Assembly
- The BJP-JJD alliance was only for running the state government, he added in response to a question.
- At present, the BJP has 41 MLAs in the 90-member House while the JJP has 10. The ruling combine also enjoys the support of six of seven independents.
- The main opposition Congress has 30 MLAs and the Indian National Lok Dal and Haryana Lokhit Party have one seat each.
- The BJP had won all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2019.
Meanwhile, speaking on the current political situation in the state, Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) spokesperson Arvind Bhardwaj said, "JJP is already making efforts to strengthen its organization and its party...We also want Dushyant Chautala to become the CM of Haryana. We have been working for the welfare of the people of Haryana state for the last 4.5 years...Everything will become clear in some time, now we will also have a meeting, and after that, the statement will be issued officially."
More to follow...
