Prime Minister Narendra Modi dialled Saini to congratulate him on the stunning and record-setting win which BJP leaders described as “well-earned…reports Asian Lite News
Top BJP leadership on Tuesday signalled Nayab Singh Saini as its clear choice for the Haryana chief minister as the party created history by returning to power for a third term in a row.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi dialled Saini to congratulate him on the stunning and record-setting win which BJP leaders described as “well-earned and deserved given the short time Saini was given to make a difference”.
Born on January 25, 1970 in Ambala, Saini replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as Haryana CM in March 2024 in the party’s bid to ward off anti-incumbency.
Khattar, who ran the Haryana government from 2014 to March 2024, was seen as arrogant.
In the short governance run of about six months, Saini fielded criticism as well as opposition Congress-led narratives that “jawan-pehelwaan-kisan” were angry with the saffron party and would “teach it a lesson”.
“It is clear that the people of Haryana have voted for the BJP government’s work over the past 10 years, for PM Modi’s policies and governance style and for our entire party. It was being said that sections were angry with us. But people understand everything. We did a lot for the farmers. Haryana’s democracy and voters are very mature, and they speak today,” Khattar said in Delhi.
All day today, top BJP leaders huddled at the residence of Khattar in Delhi to discuss the way forward and chalk out a plan for delivery of election promises to the people of Haryana. On Saini as CM, Khattar indicated it was a given but added: “Our parliamentary board will take the decision.”
In party circles, Saini was seen as more affable and accessible than his mentor Khattar, who was eased out of state politics and made a union minister after Modi won a third term at the Centre. Khattar stayed away from active campaigning in Haryana with the BJP depending on its OBC face Saini to deliver the goods.
While the Congress put all its eggs in one basket of Jat stalwart Bhupinder Singh Hooda, alienating senior leaders such as Kumari Selja who made her angst public, the BJP focused on all castes, mainly the non-Jats. The BJP ended up sweeping even the majority of Jat-dominated seats with sources pointing to counter-consolidation of other communities in favour of the ruling party which the exit pollsters had written off.
Modi targets Congress
Modi on Tuesday took a jibe at Congress over its complaint and subsequent letter to the Election Commission regarding “slowdown in updating results” of assembly polls in Haryana and alleged that the opposition party wants to tarnish every institution.
He also apparently referrred to Congress not accepting the outcome of Haryana polls. The Congress has said that the outcome is “totally unexpected, completely surprising, counter-intuitive and against ground-reality”.
Addressing party workers in Delhi after BJP victory in Haryana polls, PM Modi alleged that Congress has tried to mislead the people of the country.
“Whether it is the Election Commission of the country, the police, the judiciary, the Congress wants to tarnish every institution. You will remember the kind of ruckus they created before the results of the Lok Sabha elections. During the elections too, these people and their urban Naxalite allies had gone to the Supreme Court to tarnish the image of the Election Commission. Today also they have done the same. Congress has tried to mislead the people of the country. Congress always tries to question the impartiality of our institutions, tries to tarnish their reputation. This has been the habit of Congress. Congress has been doing such things shamelessly,” he said.
He also took “parjeevi” jibe at Congress over results in Jammu and Kashmir. The National Conference-Congress alliance won majority in the assembly polls with the former accounting for over three-fourth seats won by the alliance.
“In J-K, its (Congress) allies were already worried that they were suffering losses because of Congress and today’s results have shown the same. You must remember that we saw the same thing in the election results as well. In Lok Sabha, half of the seats won by Congress were because of their allies. Apart from this, where the allies trusted Congress, the boat of those allies sank. In many states, the allies of Congress had to bear the brunt of Congress’s poor performance,” he said.
“Congress is such a parasite party that swallows its allies. Congress wants to make such a country where people hate their own heritage, doubt their national institutions, wants to tarnish the image of everything that the countrymen are proud of. Whether it is the country’s Election Commission, the country’s police, the country’s judiciary, Congress wants to tarnish every institution,” he added.
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