Harvinder Kalyan elected Haryana Assembly Speaker, Krishan Lal Middha his deputy
Harvinder Kalyan and Krishan Middha, both three-time MLAs, were unanimously elected Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha today even as the ruling BJP tried to get caste and region equations right.
While Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini proposed Gharaunda MLA Kalyan’s name during the daylong oath-taking session of the Haryana Assembly, Ranbir Gangwa, Public Health Engineering and Public Works (Building and Roads) Minister seconded his name. With no other name proposed for Speaker’s post, Pro-tem Speaker Raghuvir Kadian, declared Kalyan elected as the Speaker of the 15th Vidhan Sabha.
The ‘engineer’ Speaker
- An OBC Ror, Harvinder Kalyan started his political career as a BSP candidate from Gharaunda in 2009
- A BE in civil engineering, Kalyan scored a hat-trick from Gharaunda winning the seat in 2014, 2019 & 2024
- A close associate of ex-CM Manohar Lal Khattar and current CM Nayab Singh Saini, Kalyan was Hafed and public accounts committee chairman
The ‘doctor’ Deputy Speaker
- Krishan Middha has been a three-time MLA from Jind. A Punjabi, he will be second representative from the community in the government after Anil Vij
- A BAMS doctor, Middha is the son of Hari Chand Middha, a two-time INLD MLA from Jind.
- Middha entered electoral politics through a bypoll in Jind in January 2019 after his father’s death.
Kashyap is chief whip
The BJP has appointed Indri MLA Ram Kumar Kashyap as the chief whip in the Haryana Assembly. A two-time MLA from Indri, Kashyap has also been a member of the Rajya Sabha
Meanwhile, Krishan Lal Panwar, Development and Panchayat and Mines and Geology Minister, and Yamunanagar MLA Ghanshyam Dass Arora, proposed and seconded Jind MLA Middha’s name.
A close associate of former Chief Minister and Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and current Chief Minister Saini, Kalyan has been winning the crucial Gharaunda seat in Karnal district for the saffron party since 2014. A member of the OBC Ror community, which has sizeable presence in the GT Road belt districts of Karnal, Kurukshetra, Panipat and Kaithal, Kalyan’s name was also doing rounds for the ministerial berth in the Saini ministry.
Besides Kalyan, Satpal Jhamba (Pundri) is another BJP legislator from the Ror community. Kalyan’s elevation as a Speaker will go a long way in giving representation to Karnal district, which was the power centre for almost 10 years during two tenures of former CM Manohar Lal Khattar and current CM Saini, who was also elected an MLA through a bypoll from Karnal for a few months.
In the election of Middha as Deputy Speaker, the BJP has given another representation to the Punjabi community, which has returned eight MLAs for the saffron party in the October 5 Assembly elections. A powerful Punjabi leader, Middha is the BJP MLA from the ‘Jatland’ Jind for three terms. After Narwana MLA Krishan Bedi’s elevation as the minister, Middha would be second representative in the government from Jind district. Before Middha, Ambala Cantonment MLA Anil Vij was the only representative from the Punjab community in the ministry.
