In Chandigarh, Nayab Singh Saini, a 54-year-old figure, assumed the role of Haryana’s freshly minted Chief Minister in a discreet ceremony held at the Raj Bhawan on Tuesday evening.
Saini, hailing from an unassuming background, ascended the ranks within the BJP, garnering unanimous support as the head of the state BJP’s legislative contingent during a gathering convened for the purpose. Acknowledged as a close confidant of the departing Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Saini steps into the shoes of the formidable BJP stalwart whose second term in office was due to conclude in October.
Representing the Other Backward Classes (OBC), Saini’s elevation to the helm of Haryana’s BJP, displacing Om Prakash Dhankar, was perceived as a strategic maneuver aimed at fortifying the party’s influence among the OBC demographic and non-Jat communities.
Born on January 25, 1970, in the hamlet of Mirzapur Majra nestled within Ambala district, Saini, a jurisprudence alumnus, maintains an amicable rapport with Khattar, tracing their camaraderie back to their formative years within the RSS fold.
Saini’s tenure as a minister in the Khattar administration spanning from 2014 to 2019 underscored his political mettle. His foray into the electoral arena during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, while concurrently discharging his legislative duties, culminated in a resounding victory for the BJP across all 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in Haryana, with party nominees securing sweeping mandates.
The announcement of Saini’s ascension to the chief ministerial post ensued a deliberative conclave of BJP MLAs convened at Haryana Niwas. Over the course of the past three decades, Saini’s ascent within the state BJP echelons has been characterized by a steady ascent, complemented by stints as a district president and general secretary of the state BJP Kisan Morcha. Noteworthy is his tenure as the district general secretary of the state BJP’s youth wing for Ambala in 2002, followed by his elevation to district presidency three years hence.
Saini’s electoral triumph from the Naraingarh assembly constituency in 2014 coincided with the BJP’s historic electoral triumph in Haryana. In the subsequent 2019 LS polls, Saini clinched victory over his closest adversary, the Congress’ Nirmal Singh, by an impressive margin of 3,84,591 votes in the Kurukshetra constituency. Notably, Saini’s candidacy for the Kurukshetra seat in 2019 was precipitated by the defection of the incumbent MP R K Saini.