Shah, MP CM appointed observers for Haryana

The BJP high command today appointed Home Minister Amit Shah and Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav as central observers for the legislature party meeting in Chandigarh on October 16.

The crucial meeting of party’s 48 MLAs assumes importance as Nayab Singh Saini, the CM face of the saffron party for the 2024 Haryana Assembly poll, is expected to be chosen as the leader of the legislature party. The meeting is being held on the eve of the swearing-in ceremony at Panchkula, which will be attended by the BJP top brass, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Union ministers and Chief Ministers of the BJP-ruled states.

The appointment of Shah, the party’s chief strategist who micro-managed the Haryana poll along with a band of trusted lieutenants, is seen as an attempt by the high command to send out a clear message to party MLAs not to believe in rumours being spread in a section of the media about the new Council of Ministers in Haryana, said sources.

A section of the media today reported a “rebellion” by Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh along with nine other Ahirwal MLAs. Rao Inderjit Singh, however, was quick to dismiss the rumours as “baseless”, claiming that he and other MLAs were solidly behind the BJP. A senior leader said the rumours were being spread to deny the Ahirwal region its “due share” in the new Council of Ministers.

After replacement of Manohar Lal Khattar on March 12, 2024, Saini, the OBC face of the saffron party, along with BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli, is credited with the BJP’s incredible hat-trick in Haryana. Modi and Shah had already declared Saini as the CM face of the party in the run-up to the October 5 poll.

The BJP won 48 seats in the 90-member House, becoming the first party in the state’s electoral history to form the government for the third time in a row after completing two full terms.

After the 2014 Assembly poll, when the BJP formed government in Haryana for the first time on its own strength, first-time MLA Manohar Lal Khattar was chosen as the legislature party leader. At that time, BJP chief and MLA Ram BIlas Sharma, who was one of the contenders for the CM’s post, had proposed Khattar’s name. “This time also, a senior MLA may be asked to propose Saini’s name before the party central observers to put a full stop to reports in a section of the media,” the senior leader added.