Nayab Singh Saini has been elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party in Haryana during a meeting held in Panchkula on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by central BJP observers, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, setting the stage for Saini’s return as Chief Minister.
The BJP’s 48 legislators chose Saini, 54, an Other Backward Class (OBC) leader, to lead the party’s third consecutive government in Haryana. He is set to take the oath for the second time on Thursday in a ceremony that will be graced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Shah, and various ministers and chief ministers from BJP-ruled states.
Saini’s candidacy was proposed by senior party legislator Anil Vij, a seven-time MLA, and received support from several other legislators. The swearing-in ceremony will take place at the Dussehra ground in Panchkula at 11 a.m. This venue also hosted the swearing-in of Manohar Lal Khattar, the BJP’s first Chief Minister in Haryana, in 2014 after the party secured a majority.
Originally scheduled for October 15, the ceremony was postponed due to PM Modi’s availability, with the new date set for October 17, according to party leaders. In the 2019 elections, the BJP won 40 seats but returned to power with support from Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).
In the 2024 elections, the BJP increased its seats to 48, while Congress secured 37 seats. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) managed only two, and independent candidates who won three seats pledged their unconditional support to the BJP. Both the JJP and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) did not win any seats.
Saini, a close ally of two-time Chief Minister Khattar, has been involved in politics for nearly 30 years. He was first elected as an MLA from Naraingarh in the 2014 Assembly elections and joined the Cabinet in 2016. Saini took over as Chief Minister in March, just two months before the Lok Sabha elections, but eight out of ten ministers in his outgoing cabinet lost their seats in the recent Assembly polls.