Nayab Singh Saini, the sitting Chief Minister of Haryana, will get another term at the top post, leaders of the BJP have said, ending speculation on the subject amid his alleged ineffectiveness. The BJP looks set to win a historic third term in the state, racing ahead of Congress in 49 of 90 assembly seats. The Congress Is trailing far behind, being ahead only on 36 seats.
Though the BJP leadership had made it clear ahead of the election that Mr Saini will remain in the top post in case of a victory, there had been speculation about a change in view of his short stint and the caste angle. Mr Saini is a member of the other backward classes, in a state that have mostly being led by Jats from the top post.
Mr Saini was picked for the top post around 200 days ahead of the election. Part of it was a strategic pre-poll reshuffle that the BJP undertakes in states seen to have anti-incumbency. Mr Khattar, his predecessor, was picked for the Lok Sabha election and upgraded to the post of a Union Minister.
The transition was seen as smooth, with Mr Saini having the backing of Mr Khattar.
State leaders of the BJP say Mr Saini, in his brief tenure, had managed to implement a number of schemes meant to benefit traders, youths, backward classes and government employees, turning around the anti-incumbency accumulated over the years against Mr Khattar's government.
He started the state's Haryana Agniveer Policy, 2024 to provide employment and entrepreneurship opportunities to Agniveers and counter the backlash over the Agniveer scheme. He started providing free medical tests in government hospitals for the underprivileged people and scrapped minimum charges on electricity.
This was also part of the BJP strategy to consolidate its traditional non-Jat voter base. It was expected that the Jat vote would be split between the Congress and the Jat parties like INLD and the Jannayak Janata Party.
The BJP is now leading on 70 per cent of the Jat-dominated seats – 17 out of 33. The Congress is ahead only on 14. It is ahead in all seven bellwether seats and is doing well even o seats dominated by Scheduled Castes, leading in nine of 17 seats.
