Chandigarh, Oct 17: OBC leader Nayab Singh Saini will take oath as the chief minister of Haryana at a ceremony in Panchkula where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP bigwigs and NDA partners will be in attendance on Thursday.
The BJP’s choice of day for the swearing-in ceremony is significant as it is Valmiki Jayanti. Sage-poet Valmiki is the author of the Hindu epic Ramayana and a revered figure, especially among Dalits.
Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Saini, who will become the chief minister for the second time.
Ministers of Saini’s cabinet are also likely to be sworn in at the ceremony. Haryana can have a maximum of 14 ministers, including the chief minister.
Massive security arrangements have been made for the ceremony.
Union minister and BJP president J P Nadda, and Union ministers Chirag Paswan and Rajiv Ranjan Singh arrived to attend the ceremony. Chief ministers of various BJP-ruled states have also arrived.
Hours before the ceremony, Saini visited the Valmiki Bhawan and offered prayers at a gurdwara and the Mansa Devi temple in Panchkula.
He told reporters that the new BJP government will work towards taking Haryana forward at a rapid pace under the leadership of PM Modi.
The people of Haryana have shown faith in the Modi government’s policies, he said on the assembly poll results.
Replying to a question, Saini said the BJP’s ‘Sankalp Patra’ (poll manifesto) will be fully implemented.
“Look at our 2014 Sankalp Patra and 2019 Sankalp Patra, we implemented them completely and now this Sankalp Patra will also be implemented by our government,” he said.
In the October 5 assembly polls, the BJP secured an unprecedented third term in Haryana, winning 48 seats in the 90-member assembly. The Congress won 37 seats.
Saini, 54, was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party in a meeting held at the party office in Panchkula on Wednesday.
In a departure from tradition, the BJP had declared that Saini would remain chief minister if the party returned to power in Haryana after the assembly polls.
Saini, an OBC face of the party, had replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as the chief minister of Haryana in March. He won the Ladwa assembly seat in Kurukshetra district by a margin of 16,054 votes.
Saini’s elevation from the Haryana BJP president to the chief minister in March came at a time when the party was facing anti-incumbency following Khattar’s tenure of nine-and-a-half years and attacks from a buoyant opposition on farmers’ issues, unemployment, Agnipath scheme, inflation, and law and order.
The BJP’s gamble paid off with Saini leading the BJP to victory, defying exit poll predictions of a clean sweep for the Congress. (PTI)
