Other Backward Classes (OBC) faced Nayab Singh Saini vowed to be the Haryana Chief Minister for the second time on Thursday after the BJP defied anti-incumbency and formed a government in the state for the third consecutive time by attaining an absolute majority in Haryana.
OBC leader Saini, 54, took over as Chief Minister for the first time in March this year. He had replaced Manohar Lal Khattar who had headed the state since 2014.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP's top leadership and 18 National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Chief Ministers participated in a mega political congregation in Panchkula near the state capital Chandigarh.
A day ago, Saini and Union Minister Shah met Governor Bandaru Dattatreya and staked a claim to form the next government, hours after he was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party.
Before being administered the oath of office, Saini and his wife Suman Saini, offered prayers at Valmiki Temple here on Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti and renewed his promise that "his doors are open round-the-clock and common man can approach him with their issues".
"This morning, I met nearly 150 people at my residence before coming to the temple," he said before offering tributes to Maharishi Valmiki, his first public event at which the priest of the temple handed over the Ramayana, undoubtedly the most famous epic ever.
Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of the great saint and the composer of Ramayana.
After offering prayers at Maharishi Valmiki, Saini and his wife visited the Gurdwara Shri Nada Sahib and Mansa Devi Temple in Panchkula.
From the day he has taken the reins of the state in the month of March this year, Saini kept his house open to the public, and he has been known as, "Saini mera banda hai" (Saini is my man, I know him).
Asked if he would be keeping the 'charpais, eco-friendly cots generally used in rural areas, at his official residence in Chandigarh for the visiting public, Saini, accompanying party state President Mohan Lal Badoli, light-heartedly said with a smile, "They have already been placed".
He said that the people have proved their faith in PM Modi and in this double-engine government. "In the coming times, our government will work strongly with PM Modi to take Haryana forward rapidly," he said.
Saini was inducted this March to turn the tide against the anti-incumbency wave against incumbent Manohar Lal Khattar for his nine-and-a-half-year helm. In his 56 days of governance, Saini claimed to have done so much development that Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda did in 10 years as the Chief Minister.
Born in 1970, Saini is a close associate of Khattar and had entered the political arena nearly three decades ago. He was an MLA elected from Naraingarh in 2014 Assembly polls and was inducted into the Cabinet in 2016.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appreciated him during electioneering by saying, "Very few people can achieve this kind of popularity in such a small time. There is a reason why our chief minister has achieved it. Anybody from Haryana can meet him. He is simple man. You all can see how he has risen from the backward class community and reached here, yet he maintains his simplicity and humble nature."
Governor Bandaru Dattatreya administered the oath of office and secrecy to Saini, a protege of Khattar.
Elaborate security arrangements were made for the swearing-in ceremony which took place at Parade Ground in Sector 5 in Panchkula amid the presence of around 50,000 people.
The BJP won 48 seats in the 90-member Assembly of Haryana by emerging victorious in the assembly polls. Congress bagged 37 seats and INLD took away two seats. Three Independents have also been elected. All three have extended unconditional support to the government.
Saini fought the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 and emerged victorious from the Kurukshetra constituency, defeating Congress's Nirmal Singh by a thumping margin.
Saini was keen to return to the election turf from Karnal, which happens to be the seat he had won in the June by-election after replacing Khattar as the Chief Minister.
However, the BJP leadership opted for Ladwa, that is the safest seat for Saini because the party polled 47.14 percent of the votes in the June parliamentary polls.
There, Saini won the Ladwa seat by defeating his nearest rival and Congress candidate Mewa Singh by 16,054 votes.
Eight out of 10 ministers of the previous Saini's Cabinet faced defeat. The two who won were Mahipal Dhanda and Mool Chand Sharma.
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