BJP may retain Nayab Singh Saini as Haryana CM after stellar election result

After the stellar Haryana election results 2024, Manohar Lal Khattar's right-hand man Nayab Singh Saini is likely to get another term as the Chief Minister, NDTV reported citing BJP leaders. The confirmation comes amid speculations that Saini could be replaced, given his short tenure and the caste angle. 

Saini replaced BJP veteran Manohar Lal Khattar as the Haryana CM in March, just two months before the Lok Sabha elections. Nayab Singh Saini was brought in to counter the anti-incumbency wave against Khattar for his nine-and-a-half year long rule. 

Saini fought from the Ladwa assembly constituency in the northern state and won by a margin of more than 16,000 votes against Congress' Mewa Singh and independent candidate Vikramjeet Singh Cheema. Haryana elections took place in a single phase on October 5 and results were declared on October 8. 

While thanking voters for the BJP's clean sweep, Saini said that people have "put a stamp" on the government's policies under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

The BJP won a landslide majority in the polls, with 48 seats in its kitty. The Congress was the second largest party with 37 seats and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) scored only 2 seats. Independent candidates got 3 seats whereas Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) and Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) drew a blank. 

The result was in stark opposition to the exit polls' prediction. Exit polls predicted a clean sweep for the Congress party under former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda's leadership.

After the Lok Sabha setback, Saini was not one to be bogged down. He began taking decisions that would ensure BJP's hattrick in the state. Some of his decisions included the Haryana Aginveer Policy, 2024.

The policy allows employment and entrepreneurship opportunities to Agniveers after the completion of their service in the Armed Forces. Further, he approved the proposal to buy 10 more crops at the minimum support price, making Haryana the only state to purchase 24 crops at MSP. 

As per experts, some of Congress' wrong decisions that cost it the election are putting all eggs in the Hooda basket as at least 70 out of 90 Congress candidates were from the Hooda camp. The Congress showed full faith in the veteran leader while ignoring the lists sent by its Dalit leader Kumari Selja and Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Both Selja and Surjewala had projected themselves as chief ministerial candidates. Hooda also had a key role in the Congress' failed talks with INDIA partner AAP for an alliance as the party was confident that the support of Jats would be sufficient for it to return to power, as per reports. 

While focusing heavily on the Jat community, the party neglected the politically significant Ahirwal belt. The Ahirwal belt comprises constituencies like Gurugram, Mahendragarh, Faridabad and Rewari.