Nayab Singh Saini was sworn in as Haryana’s new Chief Minister, after the resignation of Manohar Lal Khattar and his cabinet on Tuesday.
Saini was elected as the leader of the legislative party and was accompanied by Union minister Arjun Munda, BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh, Khattar and Biplab Deb, the party’s Haryana in-charge at the centre, as he met Governor Bandaru Dattatreya to stake a claim for forming the government in the state.
Saini’s appointment comes after the resignation of the previous Chief Minister, citing apparent fissures in the ruling coalition of the BJP and the Jannayak Janata Party. Despite the JJP cutting connections, the BJP claims to have enough seats to reach the halfway point.
Currently, the BJP has 41 MLAs in the 90-member House, while the JJP has 10. The ruling coalition also has the backing of six to seven independent MLAs.
Saini is an OBC and has been associated with the BJP since 1996. He has held several important positions in the party, including district general secretary of the BJP Youth Wing in Ambala and state general secretary of the BJP Kisan Morcha in Haryana.
