Love him, hate him, but can’t ignore Khattar

You can love him, you can hate him, but you cannot ignore him—that is the loud and clear message of the surprising Haryana poll verdict for BJP’s “poster boy” and former CM Manohar Lal Khattar.

Sidelined during the Haryana poll campaign, especially during the rallies of his mentor and Prime Minister Narendra Modi apparently to buck anti-incumbency, Khattar is back in the spotlight as the saffron party bounced back to power for an unprecedented third term in office.

What is even more heartening for Khattar is the fact that his protégé and BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Nayab Singh Saini seemed to have delivered a victory for the BJP on the strength of the development works and welfare initiatives initiated during his nine-and-a-half years in office.

In fact, Khattar was instrumental in BJP’s massive OBC outreach of initiating the proposal to increase the income ceiling for the OBCs. After the Central Government notified the decision, Saini announced its implementation in June.

Besides, several pro-Dalit initiatives were also undertaken during his tenure with the sub-classification of the SC quota being implemented in Haryana after the Supreme Court order after Saini took over from Khattar on March 12, 2024. Khattar can have a hearty laugh at his critics within and outside the party as he was sought to be painted as the “villain” for the perceived anti-incumbency against the BJP, for its various acts of omission and commission during his tenure.

The anti-incumbency factor fell flat on its face even as the BJP went to the polls with some of Khattar’s dream projects—‘no parchi, no kharchi’ (merit-based jobs) and ‘sab ka saath, sab ka vikas’ (equitable development) and ‘Haryana ek, Haryanvi ek’ (Haryana one, Haryanvi one).

Even as the Congress stepped up the ante against the BJP for Khattar’s “anti-people” IT initiatives like “parivar pehchan patra” (family ID), property ID scheme and “Meri fasal, mera byora” (farmers’ portals), the BJP seemed unfazed and went to the polls on the same issues, besides the welfare initiatives for weaker sections of society.

Former RSS ‘pracharak’ and first-time MLA, Khattar became the BJP CM after the 2014 Assembly poll. In fact, Khattar is credited with creating the Jat-non Jat narrative which resulted in the BJP forming its first government in Haryana in 2014 under him.

Victory result of minister’s skills

Manohar Lal Khattar is a big leader and BJP’s splendid victory is the result of his poll management and administrative skills. — Tarun Bhandari, Khattar’s ex-publicity adviser