Nayab Singh Saini elected leader of Haryana BJP Legislature Party; set to take oath as CM on October 17

PTC Web Desk: Nayab Singh Saini will be the new Chief Minister of Haryana. He was chosen as the leader of the BJP legislative party during a meeting held in Panchkula on Wednesday. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav attended the meeting as observers representing the central leadership.

The legislators will now visit the Raj Bhawan to stake their claim to form the government in Haryana. The oath-taking ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow (October 17), Thursday, at 11 am. A large stage is being set up at Shalimar Ground in Panchkula for the ceremony, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with Chief Ministers from BJP and NDA-ruled states and 37 other leaders, will be present.

After the meeting, Amit Shah said Anil Vij and Krishan Kumar Bedi proposed to appoint Naib Singh Saini as the leader of the BJP Legislative Party. Following the consensus of all MLAs, Naib Singh Saini has been elected as the leader of the legislative party.

In a surprising political turn, Nayab Singh Saini, once seen as a minor player under former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, has emerged as a significant figure in Haryana. He led the BJP to its best performance in the Assembly elections, winning 48 seats and securing a 39.94% share of the votes.

Nayab Singh Saini has managed to counter a decade of possible anti-incumbency and is now recognised as one of the few chief ministers in the state to successfully defend their position. 

Saini was once chose by ML Khattar 

Saini was chosen by Manohar Lal Khattar, who was then a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), as a loyal swayamsevak (volunteer) in the late 1980s. He joined the BJP with ML Khattar in 1994. His rise in the party was steady, but not very noticeable. When he was appointed the head of the BJP's Haryana unit in October last year, most people outside the party knew little about him, despite his role as the sitting MP from Kurukshetra.

Just six months later, as the BJP's central leadership decided to move ML Khattar to national politics, Saini was given control of the state. The party believed Saini, being from the Other Backward Classes (OBC), could unite rural non-Jat communities against the Congress party led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, which had consolidated the Jat vote. However, some within the party viewed Saini, who lacked a strong community leadership presence, as a potential scapegoat in case of an expected electoral defeat. However, he proved his mettle and emerged as a significant figure in Haryana.