Nayab Singh Saini takes oath as Haryana CM with Modi, Shah in attendance

Nayab Singh Saini took oath as the chief minister of Haryana at a ceremony in Panchkula on Thursday (October 17) in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP bigwigs as well as their NDA partners.

Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya administered the oath of office and secrecy to Saini, who has become the chief minister of the state for the second time. BJP MLAs Anil Vij, Krishan Lal Panwar, Rao Narbir Singh, Mahipal Dhanda and Vipul Goel also took oath as cabinet ministers in the Haryana government.

Prayers at temple

Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, Saini offered prayers at the Mansa Devi Temple in Panchkula.

“I want to thank the people of Haryana for showing trust in the double-engine government and the policies of Prime Minister Modi for the third time. In the coming times, our government will work under the leadership of PM Modi to take Haryana forward at a rapid pace,” Saini told news agency ANI in the morning.

Also read: With a spring in their feet post Haryana jackpot, BJP, RSS mend fences

Naidu among guests

Massive security arrangements were made for the ceremony.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were among the NDA partners who attended the swearing-in ceremony.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Union Ministers Manohar Lal Khattar and JP Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose also attended the ceremony.

Record third term

In the October 5 Haryana polls, the BJP secured an unprecedented third term in the state, winning 48 seats in the 90-member Assembly. The Congress won 37 seats.

Saini (54) was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party in a meeting held at the party office in Panchkula on Wednesday.

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.

Also read: Steering the BJP juggernaut in Haryana, Saini emerges as a rising star

BJP’s faith in Saini paid off

Saini, an OBC face of the party, replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as the chief minister of Haryana in March. He won the Ladwa Assembly seat in Kurukshetra district by a margin of 16,054 votes.

Saini’s elevation from the Haryana BJP president to the chief minister in March came at a time when the party was facing anti-incumbency following Khattar’s tenure of nine and a half years and attacks from a buoyant Opposition on farmers’ issues, unemployment, Agnipath scheme, inflation, and law and order.

The BJP’s gamble paid off, with Saini leading the BJP to victory, defying exit poll predictions of a clean sweep for the Congress.

SC refuses stay on ceremony

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stay the oath taking ceremony of the Nayab Singh Saini-led BJP government in Haryana.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took strong note of the plea, and said it may impose costs on the petitioner for filing such a plea.

“Do you want us to stall the oath taking of an elected government? We are putting you on guard. We will impose costs. Circulate the papers. We will see,” the CJI said when the plea was mentioned for urgent hearing at the start of the day's proceedings.

“How can we restrain the elected government from taking oath,” the CJI asked. The bench asked the petitioner to circulate three copies of the petition for the three judges and cautioned with imposition of fine.

(With agency inputs)