Haryana Assembly Polls: Manohar Lal Khattar, Karnal MLA

An old guard of the RSS, Khattar was the general secretary of Haryana BJP from 2000 to 2014. He became the chairman of BJP’s Haryana election campaign committee during 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He entered electoral politics with 2014 assembly elections and became Haryana chief minister.

Manohar Lal Khattar is the BJP MLA from Karnal assembly segment of Haryana.

An old guard of the RSS, Khattar was the general secretary of Haryana BJP from 2000 to 2014. He became the chairman of BJP’s Haryana election campaign committee during 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He entered electoral politics with 2014 assembly elections and became Haryana chief minister.

Educational qualification: Graduation

Assets (Approx)

Total: ₹61.92 lakh

Moveable: ₹8.92 lakh

Immovable: ₹53 lakh

Constituency primer: The heritage city of Karnal, which is located on NH 44, is named after Karna, a key figure in the epic Mahabharata. The city is also known for several national institutions like NDRI, CSSRI, IIWBR, sugarcane breeding institute and number of agriculture implements manufacturing units. Before BJP won it in 2014 assembly polls, this Punjabi and Bania dominated constituency remained Congress’ citadel. However, Congress slipped to third position in the last elections. The BJP performed well in mayoral and 2019 Lok Sabha elections as well.

Electoral history

2014: Khattar defeated Jai Prakash (independent) by 63,736 votes.

2009: Sumita Singh of Congress defeated Jai Prakash of Haryana Janhit Congress by 3,731 votes.

2005: Sumita Singh of Congress defeated Jai Praksh (independent) by 33,997 votes.

How he performed: Khattar focused on several issues of Karnal including waterlogging, traffic jams and dilapidated roads. Khattar, who initially faced criticism for being an outsider, quickly struck a chord with people as he frequented city despite his tight schedule. He announced to develop Karnal as pharmaceutical hub but this could not be made a reality. Karnal was included under the Centre’s smart city under which ₹1,177 crore would be spent, though, so far only ₹103 crore has been allocated. Several illegal colonies have been regularised, though, some are still without basic amenities. Khattar is credited for bringing transparency in government recruitments, honesty and his clean image.

MLA’s quote: I have worked not only for Karnal but for the entire state in the same way. Inclusive development, transparency in governance, providing jobs and improving basic facilities in the entire state was my sole objective. In next term, Karnal’s smart city project will be completed along with several other big projects coming in the state.

By the way: Khattar wanted to become a doctor.