Former RSS pracharak Manohar Lal Khattar frontrunner in Haryana CM race

Sources said Khattar made it to the shortlist after the party leaned towards a non-Jat to lead its first government in Haryana. The logic behind this was that most BJP candidates owed their success to an overwhelming support extended by non-Jats and that only a handful of the 27 Jat candidates put up by the BJP were elected. This diminished the chances of former spokesman Captain Abhimanyu and Kisan Morcha chief Om Prakash Dhankar, both Jats. Sources said the RSS has indicated a clear preference for Khattar due to his strong bonds with the parent organisation.

Those left in competition with Khattar were state president Ram Bilas Sharma and Union Ministers of State Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gujjar. Inderjit Singh, member of the Lok Sabha from Gurgaon, is a son of former chief minister Rao Birendra Singh and exercises a strong influence on the Ahir community. Gujjar, a former state BJP president, represents the Faridabad Lok Sabha constituency and has been a member of the assembly earlier. Sharma has been minister in the governments of Devi Lal, Bansi Lal and Chautala and unlike both Inderjit Singh and Gujjar, is strongly rooted in the RSS.

A tough task awaits the new BJP CM once the euphoria subsides. Haryana is a volatile state with strong and complex caste-divisions. Khattar, who hails from the Punjabi community (comprising settlers from what is Pakistan today), will face a challenge to endear himself to other segments of society. Haryanavis harbour a grudge against people of the neighbouring Punjab for having deprived them of all opportunities of growth when they were together in a composite state.

Manohar Lal Khattar, 60

A master strategist, known for his political acumen, Manohar Lal Khattar was appointed chairman of BJP’s Haryana election committee for the recent Lok Sabha elections. With almost 40 years as an active RSS pracharak, Khattar joined BJP about two decades ago. In 2002, Khattar was given the charge of elections in J&K and in 2004 he was in charge of 12 states, including Delhi and Rajasthan. Thereafter, he was made regional Sangathan Mahamantri of J&K, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh.

Krishan Pal Gujjar, 57

Born to a peasant family in the village of Mevla Maharajpur in Haryana, Krishan Pal Gujjar graduated from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1978. During his college years, he developed interest in politics and started taking active interest in students’ elections and became general secretary of the college student union. After graduation, he pursued a degree in law from Meerut university. In 1994, he formally entered active politics by winning elections to Faridabad Municpal Corporation as a councillor. In 1996, he contested the Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections and became an MLA. The same year, he was appointed Haryana transport minister in the Bansi Lal government. In the next assembly elections, he was re-elected and became leader of BJP’s legislative team. He lost the assembly polls in 2004 but was again re-elected in 2009 from Tigaon assembly constituency. In 2009, he was appointed state president of the BJP in Haryana. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Gujjar contested from Faridabad constituency and won with the highest-ever margin of over 4.6 lakh votes.

Ram bilas Sharma, 63

Five-time MLA and a three-time minister, Ram Bilas Sharma was born in Rathiwas village near Mahendergarh in 1951. While pursuing his graduation from Mahendergarh college, Sharma joined the RSS in 1967. After his marriage in 1970, he joined the Delhi office of RSS as a proof-reader for the newspaper Motherland. Between 1971-73, he was given the responsibility of the Jhajjar unit of RSS. After getting a B.Ed degree, he joined Geeta Vidyalaya in Kurukshetra as a lecturer. He left his job on the request of his mentor late Dr Mangal Sain and joined politics actively. He played a pivotal role during the JP movement and was actively involved in various agitations and protests during the Emergency. He won assembly elections four consecutive times in 1982, 1987, 1991 and 1996 from Mahendergarh constituency. Sharma was declared BJP state president in Haryana in 1990 and remained on the post till 1993. He was re-elected in 2013 and it was under his leadership that the party won seven out of eight seats it contested in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Captain Abhimanyu, 46

A former Army officer-turned-businessman-turned-politician, Abhimanyu is emerging as a prominent Jat leader of the BJP. A Harvard graduate, he quit the Army in 1994 after serving for six years. He even got selected in the Indian Administrative Services but chose not to pursue it. A founding proprietor of a Hindi national daily, Abhimanyu had held several key positions in the BJP. He came into limelight during the 2014 BJP campaign when he was elevated to the rank of national secretary and general secretary of the Haryana BJP. He was also made co-incharge of BJP’s affairs in Punjab and UP for the 2014 general elections. Abhimanyu had first contested LS polls in 2004 against Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Rohtak where he lost. He lost his second parliamentary election against Hooda’s son Deepender Hooda in 2005, again from Rohtak. He contested from Narnaund assembly segment in 2009, but lost to INLD’s candidate. This time, he contested from Narnaund and won by a margin of over 6,000 votes.