Nayab Singh Saini retained as Haryana CM

Saini's name was unanimously decided during the party's legislative meeting in Panchkula, near here, amidst the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah as an observer. "I am very happy that you all have again chosen Nayab Singh Saini as your leader," the Home Minister said at the meeting. Firm with an election promise to the youth, caretaker Chief Minister Saini stated, "I had announced that the results of the recruitment exam of 24,000 youths will be declared first and after that, I will take oath. Fulfilling that promise, the results will be declared tomorrow. The BJP does what it says." The BJP won a landslide majority for the historic third consecutive term by securing 48 seats in a House of 90. The Congress was the second-largest party with 37 seats, while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) managed only two seats. Independent candidates who won three seats extended unconditional support to the BJP, whereas Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) and Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) did not win any seats. Saini, in his previous stint, was appointed as the Chief Minister on March 12 after Manohar Lal Khattar and the entire cabinet, comprising three members of Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), stepped down. With a strong hold over the Other Backward Class (OBC) community, which comprises eight percent, Saini was declared the chief ministerial face at a public rally in Panchkula on June 29 by Union Minister Shah. The Saini caste has a sizeable population in Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Ambala, Hisar, and Rewari districts. "We will again form the government in Haryana; the double-engine government will be here for 15 years. Under the leadership of Manohar Lal Khattar, many development works were carried out in Haryana," said Home Minister Amit Shah as the legislative party chose Saini as leader for the Chief Minister's post. Saini's elevation to the top position just ahead of the Assembly polls aimed to consolidate the non-Jat and OBC votes and counter anti-incumbency against Khattar, who has been at the helm since 2014. In Haryana's caste politics, support among the Jat community-a landowning group accounting for around 25 percent of the state's population-is largely divided among the Congress, Jannayak Janata Party, and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). BJP insiders indicate that apart from being an OBC and close to Khattar, Saini's long association with the RSS also contributed to his leadership position. Caretaker Chief Minister Saini won the Ladwa Assembly seat by 16,054 votes, defeating his nearest rival and Congress candidate Mewa Singh. The party's seven-time lawmaker, Anil Vij, the seniormost in the party, stated that all MLAs had unanimously elected Saini as the leader of the BJP legislative party. "I have fulfilled all the responsibilities entrusted to me by the party," Vij told the media. "There was only one proposal moved by Narwana MLA Krishan Bedi, which was seconded by Ambala Cantt MLA Anil Vij in favor of Saini," Amit Shah said while declaring Saini as the BJP legislature party leader. Born in 1970, Saini entered politics nearly 30 years ago. He was elected as an MLA from Narayangarh in the 2014 Assembly polls and inducted into the Cabinet in 2016. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Saini contested and won from the Kurukshetra constituency, defeating Congress's Nirmal Singh by a significant margin. Saini had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders in Delhi after achieving a spectacular hat-trick in Haryana by winning 48 seats-11 more than the Congress. (Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)