The BJP on Tuesday appointed MLA Mohan Lal Badoli, a seasoned organisational leader associated with the RSS, its Haryana unit president as it looks to strengthen its support base ahead of assembly polls in the state.

A sitting MLA, Badoli lost the Lok Sabha election from Sonipat to his Congress rival in a close contest.

Badoli made his maiden entry to the Haryana Assembly in 2019 from the Rai seat, the first time the BJP won from the constituency.

He is a Brahmin and his appointment underscores the BJP's efforts to consolidate its support base outside the Jat community, most of whom are seen to be backing the Congress under former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's leadership.

Jats are the largest caste in the northern state. Though there is no census along caste lines, they are estimated to be around 27 per cent of the state's population.

Brahmins are also in sizeable number and Hooda has been wooing them as well.

Badoli replaces Chief Minister Nayab Saini, who continued to hold the charge following his elevation as head of the state government.

With Saini from the Other Backward Classes, his predecessor and current Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar hailing from the Punjabi community and the new BJP president from the Brahmin caste, the party hopes to enter the polls with a strong social coalition in its bid to repulse the challenge from the Congress.

The BJP has been in power in Haryana since 2014 but the Congress displayed strong signs of revival in the recent Lok Sabha elections, winning five of the 10 constituencies in the state.

Polls are expected to be held in the state in October along with Maharashtra, another state where the BJP is in power as part of a three-party alliance and is squaring up against a resurgent opposition combine that trounced it in the Lok Sabha elections.

BJP sources said the party is likely to make more key appointments, including of state presidents, in the coming days and weeks as it follows up on its review exercise following the Lok Sabha polls.

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