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Nayab Singh Saini takes over as Haryana BJP chief
Saini on Monday assumed charge as Haryana BJP chief in an event attended by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and other senior party leaders here
:Newly appointed Haryana BJP chief Nayab Singh Saini on Monday asked party workers to work hard to ensure win in all 10 seats from the state in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Saini on Monday assumed charge as Haryana BJP chief in an event attended by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and other senior party leaders here.
Saini, who is considered close to chief minister Khattar, replaced Om Prakash Dhankar for the post.
“We will take a pledge from here that we will win all 10 seats and will not stop till the double-engine government is formed in Haryana,” he told the gathering referring to next year’s parliamentary as well as Haryana assembly elections.
Saini’s appointment as the state BJP chief, which comes ahead of next year’s assembly and Lok Sabha polls, is apparently aimed at consolidating non-Jat voters in the state.
Two senior BJP leaders, who attended the event at the party’s state headquarters here, on the basis of anonymity said that the party’s strategy is clear now and they want to focus on non-Jat voters.
“The party has replaced two Jat state heads in Rajasthan and Haryana which depicts that BJP wants to focus on non-Jats. The change of guard was expected when the chief minister met Prime Minister a few days back and he has tightened his grip over the organisation by appointing his confidante Nayab Singh Saini as state chief,” they said.
Amid the ongoing debate over Dhankar’s removal as party head and replacing him with political light weight Saini, who belongs to the other backward classes (OBC), chief minister Khattar said that anyone who becomes party chief can belong to any caste and their party has given representation to every section of the society.
“I challenge the previous governments that we have carried out more development in the state in the last nine years. The tenure of five municipal corporations will be expiring on December 24 and three civic bodies’ tenures have already expired. We have to get ready to win eight civic body polls, 10 Lok Sabha seats and form the government for the third time in Haryana,” the CM added.
Khattar said that he had started working as a common party worker with Saini, who is a role model for other party workers.
Saini, on the occasion, said that the opposition parties are making baseless allegations on every issue and he will run the organisation with the support of ground workers.
“I have learnt how to give command to workers from the CM and my predecessor OP Dhankar. The party has given me big responsibility and I will serve my duty with full honesty,” he added.
Dhankar warned Saini to stay away from sycophants and give respect to loyal workers.
“I want to congratulate him for the new role,” Dhankar added. Besides chief minister Khattar, Rajya Sabha MP Ram Chander Jangra, Rohtak MP Arvind Sharma and other party leaders attended the event.
Saini had a brief stint at Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh where he came in close contact with Khattar and later he joined the BJP.
He was elected as a legislator from Naraingarh assembly seat in Ambala in 2014 polls and later he was inducted as minister of state for labour and employment (independent charge).
In 2019, he won the contested for the Lok Sabha elections from Kurukshetra and won the seat.
