Nayab Singh Saini Takes Oath As Haryana Chief Minister For Second Time

Nayab Singh Saini took the oath of office of chief minister of Haryana for the second time on Thursday, at a ceremony in Panchkula. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader took charge of the state after his predecessor Manohar Lal Khattar was shunted out, weeks before the Lok Sabha polls this year.

Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya administered the oath of office and secrecy to Saini. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior BJP leaders and National Democratic Alliance partners.

Ambala Cantonment MLA Anil Vij also took oath. The state can have a maximum of 14 ministers, including the chief minister.

The BJP will form a majority government after a gap of five years. It had the numerical strength in 2014, the first stint in power in Haryana. In 2019, the party failed to win enough seats and had to rely on Dushyant Chautala-led Jannanayak Janata Party to cobble an alliance.

Hours before the ceremony, Nayab Singh Saini visited the Valmiki Bhawan and offered prayers at a gurdwara and the Mansa Devi temple in Panchkula, PTI reported.

The BJP clinched a record third term in the Oct. 5 assembly elections, defying projections of a rout. The party secured 48 seats in the 90-member assembly.

The opposition Congress party, under the local leadership of Bhupinder Singh Hooda, failed to dethrone the BJP's 10-year reign with 37 wins.

Saini, an OBC face of the party, had replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as the chief minister of Haryana in March. He won Ladwa assembly seat in Kurukshetra district by a margin of 16,054 votes.

Saini's promotion from Haryana BJP president to chief minister in March coincided with rising anti-incumbency sentiments after Khattar's nine-and-a-half-year tenure. The party faced increasing criticism from a motivated opposition regarding farmers' issues, unemployment, the Agnipath scheme, inflation, and law and order concerns.