Veteran RSS leader Manohar Lal Khattar is chosen as Chief Minister of Haryana
New Delhi/Chandigarh: Long-time RSS pracharak and first-time MLA from Karnal Manohar Lal Kha-ttar, who is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was elected leader of the BJP legislature party in Haryana Tuesday, and will be sworn in as Chief Minister on Sunday, October 26.
With the BJP set to form the government for the first time in Jat-dominated Haryana, Mr Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, went for a non-Jat leader. Haryana will thus get a non-Jat CM after 18 years, the last one being Bhajan Lal of the Congress.
Mr Khattar marks another first: he will be the state’s first Punjabi CM. “I have been chosen by legislators and the BJP leadership for this responsibility. I can assure you we will work for the welfare of Haryana’s people. My government will be transparent and there will be no discrimination with any section,” Mr Khattar said after his election.
In Maharashtra, meanwhile, while the political imbroglio continued, Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray will be coming to New Delhi on Thursday, Diwali day, for talks with Mr Amit Shah.
Home minister Rajnath Singh will go to Mumbai after Diwali for parleys with the state leaders in this regard.
The BJP appears to be in no great hurry to take a decision on the Maharashtra government. With the NCP offering “unconditional outside support”, BJP spin doctors do not want to rush to any decision.
While party old-timers want a patchup with the Sena, another section is not averse to taking NCP support. Yet another school of thought in the BJP favours formation of a minority government and then looking at options, such as seeking the support of Independents and small parties.
Meanwhile, rooting for the Shiv Sena, finance minister Arun Jaitley said it was the BJP’s "natural ally".
He told a television channel: "We have two proposals at hand. The Sena has been a natural ally, NCP has announced unconditional support. For the BJP and Sena to become allies in the Maharashtra government could be a matter of course, but if there is some difficulty, you also have unconditional offer as far as the NCP is concerned." Mr Jaitley added: "The fact that we (BJP and Sena) are congratulating each other itself is a signal." He also quipped: "We are in a swayamvar."
The BJP’s Maharashtra election in-charge, Om Mathur, toed a similar line, saying the party would be "happy" if its "natural ally" Shiv Sena came back. "If the natural ally returns, we will be happy... But if it doesn’t, all options are open," Mr Mathur said.
In Haryana, Mr Khattar is known for his organisational skills. He won the Karnal seat by 63,736 votes.
A Punjabi by origin, he is believed to be close to both Mr Modi and Mr Shah. Tuesday’s BJP legislature party meeting was attended by parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and party vice-chief Dinesh Sharma, who were appointed as observers by the party’s parliamentary board to decide the name of Haryana’s new CM.
"The name of Khattar was proposed for CM by Haryana BJP president Ram Bilas Sharma and he (Khattar) was unanimously elected. We will now meet the Haryana governor (Kaptan Singh Solanki) and request him to invite him to form the next government," BJP central observer Dinesh Sharma told the media.
