Haryana: Nayab Saini elected head of BJP legislature party, stakes claim to form govt

Chandigarh/Panchkula, Oct 16 (PTI) Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday staked claim to form the next government in Haryana, hours after he was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party in the state.

Saini (54) will take oath as the chief minister on Thursday, his second time. In a departure from tradition, the BJP had declared that Saini would remain chief minister if the party returned to power in Haryana after the assembly polls.

At a meeting of newly elected Haryana BJP MLAs in Panchkula, Saini was unanimously picked as the leader of the BJP legislature party.

His name was proposed by MLA Krishan Kumar Bedi and seconded by senior leader Anil Vij, who had thrown his hat in the ring for the chief minister's post despite the party backing Saini. The announcement in this regard was made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Shah and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav attended the meeting as central observers of the BJP.

Union ministers Manohar Lal Khattar, Rao Inderjit Singh and Dharmendra Pradhan and BJP leaders Biplab Deb and Mohan Lal Badoli were also present.

Later, Saini met with Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya at the Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh and staked claim to form the government.

Three Independent MLAs who won the October 5 Assembly polls, including Savitri Jindal from Hisar, have extended their support to the BJP.

The oath ceremony in Panchkula will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah, BJP chief J P Nadda and the party's top leadership, besides a galaxy of other leaders, including NDA partners.

Several ministers are also likely to be sworn in on Thursday.

Some state BJP leaders maintained that the party's win in Haryana will also come as a boost ahead of next month's polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

Saini, an OBC face, replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as the chief minister of Haryana in March. Saini also served as a minister in the first term of the Khattar-led government in Haryana (2014-2019) and contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Kurukshetra which he won.

After Khattar vacated the Karnal assembly seat in March, Saini won the seat in the bypolls in May. However, in the Haryana polls, the BJP fielded him from Ladwa in Kurukshetra and he won the seat.

The BJP this time secured an unprecedented third term in Haryana, winning 48 seats in the 90-member assembly. The Congress won 37 seats.

During his address at the party office in Panchkula, Shah said the BJP is going to form the government in Haryana for a record third time. "Today is an auspicious day for the BJP and the people of Haryana." Shah said the party MLAs unanimously gave the responsibility of the chief minister's post to Saini.

He congratulated Saini on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party workers and credited the Modi government's policies for the BJP's victory in Haryana.

The Haryana election results surprised political pundits. Everyone in Delhi had thought the mandate would not be in favour of the BJP, Shah said.

"While the political pundits in Delhi are surprised, I am not surprised at all," he said.

He also lauded the BJP's 10-year rule in Haryana, saying government jobs were given without the 'kharchi-parchi' (bribery-favouritism) system, a reference to alleged corruption under the Congress regime.

Shah also credited his party for ensuring the overall development of the state without any bias.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Vij said he has always abided by whatever responsibility his party has entrusted him with.

Asked if he was expecting a ministerial berth, the former minister said, "I never expect anything, nor I ask anything from anyone... Even if they (the party) make me a chowkidar, I will happily accept." Meanwhile, Shah said that the foundation of Haryana's overall development was laid after Khattar became the chief minister.

"I want to say publicly that there was no village where development work of less than Rs 8 crore was carried out," he added.

A misconception was spread by the opposition on farmers' issues, Shah alleged.

He also said that Haryana was the only state which was buying 24 crops at the minimum support price.

Slamming the opposition, Shah also said, "Those who talk of MSP, I want to tell them that it is the Modi government which purchased maximum crops at the MSP." Slamming the opposition over the Agnipath scheme, the Union minister said Agniveer jawans will get pensionable jobs.

Hailing the BJP's victory in Haryana, Shah said it is the victory of the party's development-oriented policies for security and the welfare of the poor.

Recalling the time in the 1990s when Narendra Modi used to oversee the party's organisational work, he said that as the Haryana in-charge of the BJP, Modi understood the needs and problems of the people.

Shah said the party decided to assign Khattar a responsibility at the Centre and fight the elections under youth leader Nayab Saini, "and under his leadership, we have won for a third time".

In the third term, the BJP government will again provide a corruption-free dispensation, with the welfare of the poor, prosperity of farmers and jobs for youth as priorities.

"This government will be of 36 biradari which will undertake overall development," he said.

Shah said the Modi government in the past 10 years brought schemes and gave projects worth Rs 2.75 lakh crore to Haryana, as against Rs 41,000 crore during 2005-2014 under the Congress-led UPA.

The Modi government is committed to Haryana's development, he said, adding that it will not disappoint the people who have given a "historic mandate" to the BJP.

Saini said the people put their stamp on the policies of the Modi government by giving a big mandate to the BJP.

People trust Modi's guarantees and have taken the pledge to realise the prime minister's vision of a developed India, he added. PTI