Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
BJP made a big upset in Haryana, the face of the government changed, Naib Singh Saini became the new Chief Minister in place of Manohar Lal Khattar. Five ministers took oath in Naib Singh Saini’s cabinet, all five are the same faces who were ministers in Khattar’s government. That means in Haryana only the Chief Minister of the government has changed. On Wednesday, Saini presented a confidence motion in the Assembly, which was passed by voice vote. What happened in Chandigarh on Tuesday was unexpected, no one had any inkling of it, there was no expectation even remotely. On Monday itself, Manohar Lal Khattar was on the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of Dwarka Expressway. Modi had praised Khattar a lot. At that time no one thought that this could be a farewell speech for Khattar. That’s why when the news came on Tuesday morning, everyone was surprised.
There was a stir in the morning, by afternoon Khattar reached Raj Bhavan to resign. Two observers from Delhi reached Chandigarh. Legislative party meeting took place. Naib Singh Saini was elected the leader of the legislative party but Anil Vij became angry with this decision. Left the meeting midway and went back to his home in Ambala. The new government was sworn in in the evening, but Anil Vij did not attend the ceremony. But the big thing is that three out of ten MLAs of Jannayak Janata Party were present in the oath ceremony. Now the question is whether Dushyant Chautala’s party will break up in Haryana with the change of leadership? After all, why did BJP suddenly remove Khattar? What signal has Prime Minister Narendra Modi given by making Naib Saini the Chief Minister?
The way BJP decided to change the leadership before the elections in Haryana, BJP has done such experiments earlier also. In Uttarakhand, Tirath Singh Rawat was handed over the command to Pushkar Singh Dhami, in Gujarat Bhupendra Patel was made the Chief Minister in place of Vijay Rupani, in Tripura Viplav Dev was removed and Manik Saha was made the CM and in Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai was made the CM in place of Yediyurappa. Barring Karnataka, BJP’s strategy was successful everywhere else. Therefore, there may be a strategy to avoid ten years of anti-incumbency behind changing Khattar. But this is not the only reason, because the Lok Sabha elections are to be held in the name of Narendra Modi and his work. Therefore there are other reasons behind this also.
Naib Singh Saini is a new face, young, has no baggage of any kind, is a man of organization and fits into the caste equations. Naib Singh Saini comes from a backward class, which has about 25 percent votes in Haryana. Apart from this, Brahmin, Punjabi and Bania votes are also around the same whereas Jat votes are around 30 percent. Since BJP did not get the support of Jats in the last elections, all the Jat leaders like Captain Abhimanyu, Omprakash Dhankar and Subhash Barala lost the elections, now Virendra Singh’s son Brajendra Singh has also left BJP and joined Congress, hence BJP’s The focus is on non-Jat votes.
Now there will be four parties in Haryana – BJP, Congress, Omprakash Chautala’s INLD and Dushyant Chautala’s JJP, that is, if BJP does not get the votes of Jats, then it will be divided among three parties, and if BJP wins the non-Jat castes in its favor. The target of winning all ten Lok Sabha seats can be achieved and this formula can also work in the assembly elections. I think that is why BJP has made this move. However, what will happen to Manohar Lal Khattar now, whether he will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Kurukshetra or work in the organization, will be decided by the election committee of BJP.
Watch: ‘Aaj Ki Baat, Rajat Sharma Sath’ full episode of 12 March 2024
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