Nayab Singh Saini,the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will be the next Haryana Chief Minister. The oath ceremony is expected to take place by evening today. Along with Saini, two Deputy Chief Ministers, other Cabinet ministers are also likely to take the oath of office.
In a fast-paced political development, Manohar Lal Khattar along with his entire Cabinet resigned from their posts on Tuesday morning amid a rift in its alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) possibly over the seat-sharing issue.
Former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar proposed Saini’s name for the next chief minister of the state, reports have said. The now-resigned Haryana Cabinet comprised 14 ministers, including Khattar and three members of the Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala-led JJP.
A new cabinet is likely to be sworn in at the oath-taking ceremony to be held at the governor’s residence later in the day, sources said. Five MLAs of the JJP are learnt to have skipped the meeting called by the party in New Delhi. Several BJP leaders had earlier maintained that party would fight all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Union minister Arjun Munda, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh, who have been appointed as observers by the party, as well as BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Barala attended the legislative party meeting at Haryana Niwas.
After Khattar’s resignation, reports have said that he may contest as the BJP’s candidate from the Karnal Lok Sabha seat in the upcoming general elections.
The move comes amid reports of a split in Haryana’s ruling BJP and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) coalition, over seat sharing ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Khattar had, reportedly, called a meeting of the BJP MLAs at his residence, following which he tendered his resignation.
The BJP has 41 MLAs in the 90-member House while the JJP has 10. The coalition also has the support of five of the seven independents.
