Nayab Singh Saini has officially staked his claim to form the government in Haryana after being unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party. He met with Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya at Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh on Wednesday. Saini, 54, is set to take his oath as Chief Minister at the Parade Ground in Sector 5, Panchkula, on Thursday morning. The ceremony will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and other senior BJP leaders.
The BJP legislature party meeting, which lasted less than an hour at the Panch Kamal party office in Panchkula, was conducted under the supervision of Union Minister Amit Shah and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav. Narwana MLA Krishan Kumar Bedi proposed Saini’s name, which was endorsed by Ambala Cantt MLA Anil Vij, leading to unanimous support from all MLAs.
Saini previously replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as Chief Minister in March. He was the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in the recent assembly elections, where the party secured its third consecutive term, winning 48 out of 90 seats, compared to Congress’s 37. The results were announced on October 8.
A Journey from Humble Beginnings to Political Leadership
Born on January 25, 1970, in Mirzapur Majra village of Ambala district, Saini has risen from a low-profile background as a backward class leader. He began his political journey with the BJP and its ideological parent, the RSS, in 1996. An arts graduate from BR Ambedkar Bihar University and an LLB holder from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Saini first served as the general secretary of the BJP’s Yuva Morcha in 2002 and became its president by 2005.
After a defeat in his home constituency of Naraingarh in 2009, Saini rebounded in the 2014 elections, securing 39.76% of the votes. He served as a minister of state in the Khattar cabinet from 2014 to 2019 before becoming the MP for Kurukshetra in 2019.
On October 27, 2023, he succeeded Jat leader Om Prakash Dhankar as the Haryana BJP president. In a significant shift in the party’s strategy, Saini was chosen to replace Khattar as Chief Minister on March 12, coinciding with the BJP’s decision to end its alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party, a move aimed at countering anti-incumbency sentiments and achieving a historic third victory in the state.
