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Manohar Lal Khattar was unanimously elected as the head of BJP’s Haryana legislative party on Saturday at a meeting of newly-elected MLAs at a UT guesthouse in Chandigarh. The appointment was made in the presence of Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and senior BJP leader Arun Singh, who presided over as Observers. Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was initially appointed as Observer, did not make it to the meeting.
“Today, all 40 MLAs of the BJP have unanimously elected me as their leader. I thank all of them and the people of Haryana. I would like to assure them as well as all those friends who are supporting us that I shall take all of them along for the next five years and all of us shall work together for the betterment and upliftment of our state of Haryana,” Khattar said.
Although the decision was not entirely surprising, the suspense continues on the post of Deputy Chief Minister after the BJP struck an alliance with the Dushyant Chautala-led JJP, in New Delhi yesterday.
Highly placed sources told The Indian Express that “the sentiment of JJP’s legislative body is that Naina Chautala should be the party’s choice for the post of Deputy Chief Minister”. One of the JJP leaders said, “It will not only send a better message down the party cadres, but also in the state since if Naina Chautala ji is appointed as Deputy Chief Minister, she will be the first woman to bag this post in Haryana’s history.”
A parallel meeting of JJP’s legislative party is also going on at Haryana MLA flats where JJP has its party-office, about two kilometres away from UT guesthouse in Chandigarh. Once their meeting ends, Dushyant is also likely to meet Haryana Governor and give a letter to the Governor submitting his formal support to BJP.
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On the other hand, BJP’s senior-most leader in Haryana, Anil Vij who had been a six-time MLA from Ambala cantonment is also in the race for the post of Deputy Chief Minister from BJP. Sources say that certain faction within BJP is of the view that BJP should also have one legislator as the Deputy Chief Minister.
Without saying anything about his name doing the rounds, Vij said, “Indeed, I am the senior-most among BJP’s elected MLAs, as on date. I had been a six-time MLA.” Talking about BJP’s alliance with JJP, Vij said, “Sometimes, the political circumstances are such that decisions need to be taken in the larger interest of the state”. Vij and Dushyant had, several times, had been involved in heated exchange of words against each other and against each other’s parties.
The oath-taking ceremony is likely to be held tomorrow, evening. Khattar will soon meet Haryana Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya and stake claim to form the government for a second consecutive term.
Speaking to reporters, Ravi Shankar Prasad said,” Since the BJP is the single largest party, he (Khattar) shall go meet the Hon’ble Governor and stake claim of forming the government. The oath-taking ceremony shall be held whenever he gives us a suitable time.”
Regarding the post of Deputy CM, Prasad added, “This is a subject of Khattar ji.”
Amit Shah, had yesterday, in New Delhi, while announcing BJP-JJP alliance had said that while the post of Chief Minister shall be with BJP, the post of Deputy Chief Minister shall be with JJP for the coming five years of the second tenure of the ruling party in Haryana.
There is no precedent in Haryana to have two Deputy Chief Ministers, although during Congress regime, former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s son Chander Mohan had once held the post of Deputy Chief Minister in Congress’ tenure in Haryana from 2005 to 2009. At that time, Bhajan Lal was Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee’s chief in Haryana. However, Chander Mohan had to resign from the post in 2008 after he changed his religion, became Chand Mohammad to marry an advocate Anuradha Bali aka Fiza Mohammad.
