Manohar Lal Khattar, an RSS pracharak turned BJP leader, will take oath as Haryana Chief Minister on October 26. The 47 MLAs of the State BJP met in Chandigarh on Tuesday and unanimously elected Khattar, making him Haryana’s first Punjabi Chief Minister.

The factors that favoured Khattar were his organisational skill, which helped his party come to power on its own, and his proximity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The RSS top brass, too, was apparently in favour of Khattar over the other contenders — Captain Abhimanyu, Ram Bilas Sharma and Rao Inderjeet Singh. The BJP, which came to power by consolidating anti-Jat votes, chose a non-Jat for the top post. This is seen to ensure that the party retains its popularity among the other caste groups, such as Dalits, OBCs and Brahmins.

The upcoming elections to neighbouring States — Delhi and Uttar Pradesh — might have also forced the BJP leadership to look beyond Abhimanyu, who was a frontrunner for the CM post. Soon after the legislative party meeting, Khattar went to the Raj Bhavan to meet Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki and staked his claim to form the Government.

Thanking the people for their support, he tweeted: “Let us open a new chapter that focuses on good governance and development for all for a prosperous and progressive Haryana.”

Major challenge Khattar’s will be the first BJP government in the State. His toughest job will be to manage the Opposition led by the Indian National Lok Dal and the Congress.

Both the parties have a strong base among the Jats, who constitute 27 per cent of Haryana’s population. A section of the Haryana Congress leadership feels the new CM is likely to face constant pressure from the Jat lobby — even from his own party.

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