A low-profile non-Jat but Other Backward Classes (OBC) face Nayab Singh Saini, 54, took oath as Haryana Chief Minister on Thursday for the second time amidst a galaxy of NDA leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
With this, the BJP has formed the government for a record third consecutive term after securing an absolute majority, defying an anti-incumbency of 10 years.
The Council of Ministers, comprising 11 Cabinet ministers and two Ministers of State (Independent Charge), also took the oath of office in a 45-minute ceremony.
Two women Cabinet ministers -- Arti Rao, the daughter of Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, and Shruti Choudhry, the granddaughter of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, are first-time legislators.
Shruti Choudhry and her mother Kiran Chaudhary, now a Rajya Sabha MP, had joined the BJP, leaving the Congress after a bitter fight with former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda.
Governor Bandaru Dattatreya administered the oath of office and secrecy to Saini, a protege of former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, and his ministers.
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.
Earlier, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition seeking a stay on the swearing-in ceremony. The apex court observed that it cannot restrain an elected government from taking the oath and warned the petitioner of imposing a fine.
The Haryana Cabinet, which can accommodate a maximum of 14 ministers, including the Chief Minister, comprised two ministers belonging to each of the OBCs, Jats, Yadav, the Scheduled Caste and Brahmin and one each of Punjabi, Rajput, Gujar and Vaish communities.
The Council of Ministers who took the oath as per their seniority were seven-time legislator Anil Vij, a prominent Punjabi-Khatri face; Krishan Lal Panwar, the six-time legislator belonging to the Scheduled Caste from Israna in Panipat district; four-time legislator Rao Narbir Singh, an Ahir leader from Badshahpur in Gurugram district; Mahipal Dhanda, a Jat legislator from Panipat (rural); and two-time lawmaker Vipul Goel, a Vaish community legislator from Faridabad. They all were ministers in the previous two BJP governments from 2014.
The other ministers are Congress turncoat and four-time Member of Parliament Arvind Sharma, a Brahmin lawmaker from Gohana in Sonepat; Shyam Singh Rana, a legislator from Radaur in Yamunanagar district who left the BJP in 2020 and rejoined the party in July; former Deputy Speaker Ranbir Gangwa Ranbir, the legislator belonging to backward class from Barwala in Hisar district; Krishan Bedi, a scheduled caste (Balmiki) legislator from Narwana in Jind; Shruti Choudhry, a Jat MLA from Tosham in Bhiwani district; Arti Rao, a legislator from Ateli in Mahendergarh district; Rajesh Nagar, a Gujjar legislator from Tigaon in Faridabad district; first-time legislator Gaurav Gautam, who won the Palwal constituency, defeating Karan Singh Dalal of the Congress by a margin of 33,605 votes.
Nagar and Gautam took oath as the Ministers of State (Independent Charge). All, except Shruti Choudhry, took oath in Hindi. She took an oath in English.
Chief Ministers of several NDA-ruled states, including Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Andhra Pradesh, were in attendance.
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.
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."
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.
Born in 1970, Saini entered politics almost 30 years ago. He was elected as an MLA from Narayangarh in the 2014 Assembly polls. He was inducted into the Cabinet in 2016.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Saini contested and won from the Kurukshetra constituency, defeating Congress' 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.
(With inputs from IANS)
