New Delhi, October 20
The BJP, which appears to have zeroed in on a “non-Jat” Chief Minister for Haryana, is expected to formally announce the name after a legislative party meeting in Chandigarh tomorrow.

Amid the ongoing debate in the party on “Jat versus non-Jat CM”, majority of contenders for the top post—Manohar Lal Khattar, Captain Abhimanyu, Birender Singh, Rambilas Sharma, Anil Vij, Om Prakash Dhankar—today met BJP president Amit Shah at the party headquarters in Delhi.

Though a section in the party believes that a non-Jat CM may spoil the party’s prospects in states such as Delhi and UP that have a large number of Jats, sources say the top leadership has more or less decided on the name of Khattar—a former RSS pracharak. Sources said the BJP doesn’t want to offend a large number of non-Jat urban voters who voted for it in these elections.

Other non-Jat leaders in the race include Rambilas Sharma, Rao Inderjeet Singh, Krishanpal Gujjar and Anil Vij. “The decision has been made. Unless there is some overnight development, Khattar is the front-runner. He has a clean image and comes with no baggage,” they say.

Party's newly elected MLAs will meet at Chandigarh tomorrow to choose their leader. The meeting will be attended by Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu and vice president Dinesh Sharma — the two Central observers appointed by the Parliamentary Board. Party's Haryana in charge Jagdish Mukhi said it was up to the new MLAs to elect their leader and that the new CM may take the oath before Diwali.