• Nayab Singh Saini took oath as the Chief Minister of Haryana at a ceremony in Panchkula attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and thousands of people from across the state on October 17.

• Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya administered the oath of office and secrecy to Saini, who became the Chief Minister for the second time.

• Saini, an OBC face of the party, had replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as the Chief Minister of Haryana in March. He won the Ladwa assembly seat in Kurukshetra district by a margin of 16,054 votes.

• The BJP won 48 seats in the 90-member Assembly. Three Independents, including Hisar MLA Savitri Jindal, have also extended support to the party.

• Saini, 54, was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party in a meeting held at the party office in Panchkula on October 16.

Who is Nayab Singh Saini?

• When the BJP picked Nayab Singh Saini as the Haryana CM in March to buck anti-incumbency, many felt a change of guard would not be enough to win elections. But the low-profile leader proved all the naysayers wrong by steering his party to a third successive term in the heartland state.

• The 54-year-old proverbial dark horse, who has risen through the ranks of the Haryana BJP, deftly changed public perception of himself and the party in a state which many thought would go to the Congress.

• Born in Ambala’s Mirzapur Majra village on January 25, 1970, Saini served as minister in the Khattar cabinet between 2014 and 2019.

• During the past three decades, Saini held various positions in the Haryana BJP, including district president and general secretary of Haryana BJP Kisan Morcha.

• He was the state BJP youth wing’s Ambala district general secretary in 2002 and became the district president three years later.

• He was elected to the Haryana Assembly from Naraingarh constituency in 2014 and to Lok Sabha from Kurukshetra seat in 2019.

• Saini was appointed as the Haryana BJP chief in October 2023 in an effort by the party to strengthen its hold over the OBC community and non-Jats. 

• Saini’s elevation from the Haryana BJP president to Chief Minister in March came at a time when the party was facing anti-incumbency following Khattar’s tenure of nine-and-a-half years and attacks from a buoyant opposition on farmers’ issues, unemployment, Agnipath scheme, inflation, and law and order.

• After Khattar resigned as Chief Minister in March, his Karnal assembly seat was vacated. Saini won the seat in a bypoll held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections in May, defeating Congress nominee Tarlochan Singh. 

• Barely days after Saini was brought in by the BJP, the Model Code of Conduct came into effect with the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections and later ahead of the Assembly elections, effectively giving him only two months to turn the tide in the BJP’s favour.

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