Haryana: BJP Names Nayab Saini As Legislature Party Leader, Set To Take Oath As Chief Minister Tomorrow In Panchkula

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday (16 October) ended the suspense over next Haryana Chief Minister.

After a BJP legislature party meeting on Wednesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the BJP MLAs have chosen Nayab Saini as the legislature party leader.

This means that Nayab Saini will continue to be the Chief Minister of Haryana in the new BJP government that is set to take oath on 17 October.

The BJP parliamentary board had appointed Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav as central observers on Sunday (13 October) for the election of the State legislature party leader in Haryana.

Saini had replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as Haryana Chief Minister in March, and was instrumental in helping the party win the recent assembly elections.

The oath-taking ceremony will be held at the Dusshera ground at 10 am in Sector 5, Panchkula.

The BJP has secured a third term in the Haryana Assembly polls, winning 48 seats against the Congress’ 37. The JJP and the AAP were decimated and the INLD managed to win just two seats.

The next step for the BJP will be deciding the Haryana Cabinet.

In the Haryana polls, eight of the 10 ministers in the outgoing Saini cabinet faced defeat.

The only two who managed to retain their seats were Mahipal Dhanda from Panipat Rural and Mool Chand Sharma from Ballabhgarh.

There can be a maximum of 14 ministers, including the Chief Minister in Haryana cabinet.

That leaves 13 positions, and in case BJP decides to retain Dhanda and Sharma as ministers, the party will need at least 11 new faces.

Balancing caste groups and meeting community demands when forming a government is challenging, but the BJP has managed it well before and will need to do it again in Haryana.

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