Chandigarh::

Dushyant Chautala, the friend-turned-foe of the BJP who is out to fell the government, should guard his flock, sources have indicated. As efforts are on to bring a no-confidence motion against the Nayab Singh Saini government after three Independent MLAs pulled support off the BJP, a handful of Mr Chautala’s MLAs met the former BJP Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar this afternoon, sources said.

The meeting took place at the residence of Minister of State Mahipal Dhanda in Panipat. Four MLAs of the Jannayak Janta Party or JJP were present for the half-hour meeting with Mr Khattar and Mr Dhanda held around 2 pm.

Sources said the leaders had discussed the current political crisis.

The host, Mr Dhanda, has refused to comment on the matter.

The BJP-led government in Haryana was plunged into crisis earlier this week as MLAs Sombir Sangwan (representing Dadri), Randhir Singh Gollen (from Pundri), and Dharampal Gonder (of Nilokheri) stopped support to the BJP government.

It was followed by a press conference by Mr Chautala where he, accompanied by senior leaders of the Congress, declared that the government has become a minority and he would provide outside support the Congress should they choose to form government.

Mr Chautala has chased it up with a letter to the Governor, demanding a floor test in the assembly. But there he ran up against a technicality — only one no-confidence motion can be brought against the government in a six-month period.

Given that the Congress had brought a no-confidence motion in February and a floor test was held in March, the Opposition is out of options.

Assembly elections in the due later this year — the term of the assembly ends in November.

New Delhi:

The BJP’s Nayab Singh Saini, 54, was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Haryana at a rapidly-assembled ceremony in Chandigarh Tuesday evening, capping a frenetic few hours triggered by the resignation this morning of his predecessor, Manohar Lal Khattar, and the entire cabinet.

In a significant gesture, Mr Saini – seen as a confidante of the 69-year-old ML Khattar – bent to touch his feet twice, and was hugged in return. And, in addition to Mr Saini, the BJP’s JP Dalal, Moolchand Sharma, Banwari Lal, and Kanwar Pal Gurjar – all from the old cabinet – took oath as ministers.

In an equally significant move, outgoing Home Minister Anil Vij has been dropped.

The new government will be backed by six independent lawmakers and, potentially, five from the JJP of now ex-Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, who are set to cross but are not expected to get cabinet berths. The BJP has 41 MLAs in the 90-member House, in which the majority mark is set at 46.

Mr Khattar’s stepping down – and that of his ministers – followed a breakdown of the ruling BJP-JJP alliance over failed seat-sharing talks for the Lok Sabha election. However, the swapping of a chief minister has also been seen as another chapter in the BJP’s well-worn election playbook.

READ | Who Is Nayab Saini: 5 Facts On New Haryana Chief Minister

In the past, the party has changed out chief ministers, and reshuffled cabinets before Assembly elections to ward off the anti-incumbency factor and rejuvenate state units and leaders. This was the tactic before polls in Gujarat and Uttarakhand, which the party won, and Karnataka, which it lost.

The selection of Mr Saini – an influential Other Backward Classes leader – also represents the BJP’s focus on caste and OBC equations in each state before an election. The BJP made similar moves in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh (this was after it won the elections).

READ | Nayab Saini To Be New Haryana Chief Minister After ML Khattar Quits

In the first instance, it replaced four-time Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and, in the second, in Rajasthan, opted against bringing back former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

NDTV Explains | BJP’s 2024 Gameplan Behind Hattrick Of Heartland Surprises

Mr Khattar is a two-time Chief Minister and his term was to expire in October.

Another likely factor in picking Mr Saini to be the new Chief Minister is that his community accounts for an estimated eight per cent of the state population, with sizeable populations in the Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Ambala, Hisar and Rewari districts. Mr Saini is the Lok Sabha MP from Kurukshetra.

Haryana’s political landscape was thrown into flux this morning after Mr Khattar’s resignation, with a several rumours doing the rounds, including one that he will make his Lok Sabha election debut.

There was speculation Mr Khattar would be fielded either from Karnal (held by the BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia) or Mr Saini’s Kurukshetra seat. It now appears he will be given the ticket for the latter.

Speaking to reporters after the swearing-in, BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh – one of two senior leaders sent by the party’s HQ as observers – said, “He (Mr Khattar) is a senior leader and has experience… and had run a good government. Soon the party will give him a big responsibility.”

The BJP-JJP alliance in Haryana – formed after the 2019 Assembly election – seemed to be running smoothly till roadblocks over seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha poll. The JJP wanted two seats but the BJP would only give one; in 2019 the JJP contested and lost seven seats and the BJP won all 10.

The JJP has said it will contest all 10 seats on its own; the party will hold a rally in Hisar district, at which JJP boss Dushyant Chautala is expected to announce details of that campaign.

Immediately after Mr Saini was sworn in, Mr Chautala posted on X (formerly Twitter), thanking the people of Haryana for the “opportunity to serve as Deputy Chief Minister”.

“Your support and cooperation for the welfare of Haryana… has always energised me. With limited time, and limited numbers, we worked day and night to protect Haryana’s interests,” he said.

सभी हरियाणावासियों को मेरा नमस्कार।

आपने मुझे हरियाणा के उपमुख्यमंत्री के रूप में प्रदेश की सेवा करने का अवसर दिया इसको मैं अपना सौभाग्य मानता हूँ और हरियाणा के प्रत्येक व्यक्ति का दिल की ग़हराइयों से आभार प्रकट करता हूँ। हरियाणा के हित और जनता के कार्यों के लिए आपका समर्थन और…

— Dushyant Chautala (@Dchautala) March 12, 2024

READ | Uncle’s “Betrayal” Dig At Dushyant Chautala On BJP’s Haryana Revamp

Haryana may have only 10 Lok Sabha seats, but it is a Hindi heartland state and is therefore a crucial battleground for the BJP. This is particularly so since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party set itself a target of 370 Lok Sabha seats (on its own) and 400 with National Democratic Alliance members.

The Congress, meanwhile, has hit out at the BJP. Former state unit boss, Selja Kumari, slammed the party for “roaming all over the country making alliances” but failing to properly govern Haryana.

“They should explain why the alliance broke. You are roaming all over the country, making alliances with parties… but you have been in power in Haryana for five years and the people have seen your lack of governance. The only alternative is Congress,” she told news agency ANI.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

Chandigarh:

Reacting to the remarks of Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan’s derogatory remarks targeted at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and at him, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said that the people of the state will give a reply to the grand old party.  

Taking to the social media platform, X, the Haryana Chief Minister said, “The party steeped in nepotism and people enslaved by the mentality of nepotism will not be able to understand that Honorable Prime Minister, I consider 140 crore people of the country and 3.25 crore people of Haryana as my family. It is not me but the people of our family who will answer to Congress…”

Earlier on Saturday, Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan used derogatory language to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. 

In a viral video, the Haryana Congress chief can be heard using abusive words while referring to the Prime Minister and the Haryana Chief Minister.

The remarks made by Bhan led to a controversy with several BJP leaders condemning it and seeking an apology from the Congress party.

Reacting to it, Haryana BJP chief OP Dhankhar said that the Congress should apologize. 

“It was an unfortunate statement. The Congress should apologize. It should feel shame. Udai Bhan crossed all limits of indecency. But I saw another video of his, what is more unfortunate is that he is justifying his remarks”, Dhankhar said while speaking to ANI. 

Udai Bhan, seen to be a loyalist of former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was made Haryana Congress chief in 2022. He replaced Kumari Selja who was made AICC in-charge of Chhattisgarh.

Asked about his remarks, Bhan remained unapologetic claiming that his words “were Haryanvi slang”.

“What have I said that is wrong…I have only described the truth. Is this language wrong, this is a normal language in Haryana. We call unmarried men by this slang in Haryana and that is not an abuse,” Udai Bhan told ANI.

“I have only spoken the truth. If I had said something wrong, like what was said by that MP, I would have apologised. This is just a light comment made at a press conference which has been made into a needless issue. This is normal language used in Haryana,” he added.

The BJP has demanded that the Congress take action against its state unit chief.

Party Spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi alleged that Congress has always used this kind of language for the Prime Minister.

“This video has caused extreme pain and anguish among BJP workers and the common man. This is below-the-belt language, it is the height of low-level politics which is being played by the Congress. Congress has always used this kind of language for the PM and his family,” he said.

“When one of our MPs made an unparliamentary remark in the House (Lok Sabha) our senior leader apologised for that and the party sent him a notice, what action will the Congress take against someone who is their state unit chief and thus the official voice of the party?” he asked.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)