With BJP Forming Govt Third Time in Haryana, OBC Face Saini Takes Oath as CM

PANCHKULA:
With the BJP forming the government for a record third consecutive term by securing an absolute majority in Haryana, defying an anti-incumbency of 10 years, a low-profile non-Jat but Other Backward Classes (OBC) face Nayab Singh Saini, 54, took oath as the Chief Minister on Thursday for the second time.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP’s top leadership and 18 National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Chief Ministers attended a mega political gathering in Panchkula, near the state capital Chandigarh, in the run-up to Assembly polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

A day earlier, Saini along with Union minister Shah met Governor Bandaru Dattatreya and staked a claim to form the next government. Saini was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party.

Ahead of taking the oath of office, Saini and his wife Suman Saini offered prayers at Valmiki Temple here on the occasion of Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti and reiterated his promise that “his doors are open round the clock and common man can approach him with their issues”.

“This morning, I met nearly 150 people at my residence before coming to the temple,” he told the media after paying respects to Maharishi Valmiki, his first public engagement where the temple priest presented him the Ramayana, one of the most popular epics of all time.

Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti is celebrated to honour the birth of Maharishi Valmiki, the revered sage and author of the Ramayana.

After paying obeisance at Maharishi Valmiki, Saini and his wife offered prayers at Gurdwara Shri Nada Sahib and Mansa Devi Temple, both in Panchkula.

From the day he took over the reins of the state in March this year, Saini has kept his house open for the public and he has been known as, “Saini mera banda hai” (Saini is my man, I know him).

When asked about his electioneering assertion that ‘charpais’, eco-friendly cots commonly used in rural areas, would be kept at his official residence in Chandigarh for the visiting public, Saini, accompanying party state President Mohan Lal Badoli, jokingly replied, “They (charpais) have already been placed.”

He said the people have expressed faith in PM Modi and the double-engine government. “In the coming times, our government will work strongly with PM Modi to take Haryana forward rapidly.”

Saini was brought in March this year to counter the anti-incumbency wave against incumbent Manohar Lal Khattar for his nine-and-a-half-year helm. In his 56 days of governance, Saini claimed to have done so much development that Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda did in 10 years as the Chief Minister.

Born in 1970, Saini, a confidant of Khattar, entered politics almost 30 years ago. He was elected as an MLA from Naraingarh in the 2014 Assembly polls and was inducted into the Cabinet in 2016.

During electioneering, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had even praised Saini by saying, “Very few people can achieve this kind of popularity in such a small time. There is a reason why our chief minister has achieved it. Anybody from Haryana can meet him. He is a simple man. You all can see how he has risen from a backward class community and reached here, yet he maintains his simplicity and humble nature.”

Governor Bandaru Dattatreya administered the oath of office and secrecy to Saini, a protege of Khattar.

Elaborate security arrangements were made for the swearing-in ceremony which took place at Parade Ground in Sector 5 in Panchkula amid the presence of around 50,000 people.

The BJP won the Assembly elections by winning 48 seats in the 90-seat Assembly of Haryana. The Congress won 37 seats, while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) secured two and three Independents were elected. All three have extended unconditional support to the government.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Saini contested and won from the Kurukshetra constituency, defeating Congress’s Nirmal Singh by a huge margin.

Saini was keen to re-enter the poll fray from Karnal, the seat he won in the June bypoll when he replaced Khattar as the Chief Minister.

However, the BJP leadership opted for Ladwa, which came into existence in 2007, the safest seat for Saini as the party polled 47.14 per cent of the votes in the June parliamentary polls.

Saini won the Ladwa seat by 16,054 votes, defeating his nearest rival and Congress candidate Mewa Singh.

Eight out of 10 ministers in the previous Saini’s Cabinet faced defeat. The two who won were Mahipal Dhanda and Mool Chand Sharma.