The BJP on Tuesday snapped ties with the Haryana-based Jannayak Janata Party, got the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government in the state to resign and swiftly got a new face, Nayab Singh Saini, appointed as chief minister.
The flurry of events indicated a tactical move by the saffron leadership to lay the ground for going solo in Haryana in the Lok Sabha elections and prepare for the year-end Assembly polls.
While snapping ties with the JJP, a post-poll partner, was seen as a calculated move to split the dominant Jat community votes in Haryana, replacing the chief minister with a “fresh face” hinted at a bid to beat anti-incumbency.
Saini, 54, an OBC who heads the Haryana BJP and is an MP, was sworn in as chief minister with four cabinet ministers, including an Independent MLA.
The BJP with just 41 MLAs in the 90-member Assembly claimed the support of seven Independents.
The BJP leaders also claimed that five of the 10 JJP MLAs, headed by Dushyant Chautala, the deputy chief minister in the earlier Khattar government, would back the new government.
Earlier in the day, outgoing chief minister Khattar and his entire ministerial team were made to resign just a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had publicly heaped praise on him.
The 69-year-old Khattar was replaced not because of underperformance but to bring in a “fresh face” or a "next-generation leader" and strive to undercut anti-incumbency, BJP sources said. Two-term chief minister Khattar is likely to contest Lok Sabha polls, insiders said.
The operation in Haryana mirrored events in Modi’s home state Gujarat in 2021, a year ahead of the Assembly polls. Incumbent chief minister Vijay Rupani and his entire cabinet resigned and a new face, Bhupendra Patel, was sworn in. The BJP swept the state polls in 2022.
BJP strategists said the break-up with the JJP suited them electorally. The JJP derives strength primarily from Jat voters while the BJP’s electoral strategy in Haryana revolves around getting all non-Jat communities to back the party.
The Jat voters are said to be angry with the BJP due to the ongoing farmers’ agitation and the long-drawn protest by wrestlers from Haryana against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh who formerly headed the wrestling federation.
“The Jat votes will now get split between the Congress, JJP and the Indian National Lok Dal. This will be good for us. We are confident of retaining all the 10 Lok Sabha seats and win the Assembly polls later this year,” a BJP leader said.
