Manohar Lal Khattar: BJP fields Khattar from Karnal a day after he quit as Haryana Chief Minister
Though Khattar, a Khatri Punjabi, was born in Rohtak his support base is in Karnal. He was an MLA from the Karnal Assembly seat. While his nomination for the Lok Sabha seat was being discussed since he was replaced as CM, it is clear that if he wins and the BJP-led NDA gets a third term he is likely to be a part of the Cabinet. Some party leaders also maintain that he is now among the top contenders for the BJP President’s post after JP Nadda completes his extended term later this year.
Khattar is the second ex-chief minister to be given a Lok Sabha ticket after Shivraj Singh Chouhan who is contesting from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh.
While the decision to make him CM in 2014 came as a surprise to some as the state has usually been ruled by a Jat leader (Bhajan Lal was an exception), he faced challenges from within the ranks as well as major protests like the Jat reservation agitation and the unrest following the arrest of Baba Ram Rahim Singh.
As a counter to Congress and INLD which gave primacy to the Jat community in Haryana, BJP has courted the non-Jat votes in Haryana. Khattar, a Khatri Punjabi by caste, was chosen by the saffron party to head its first government in the state. His proximity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who always had his back during intra-party squabbles, was also a big factor that went in his favour. Khattar and Modi had worked together in the BJP organisation in their early political career.
Anil Vij, a senior BJP leader in Haryana who served as Home and Health Minister, was a bitter critic of Khattar as he felt he deserved to be CM. Vij had worked on the ground for years for the BJP, leading protests and rallying support for the party.Months after Khattar took charge as chief minister, Modi has firmly backed him during one internal crisis and sought the resignation of the whole council of ministers to ensure his friend stayed in the saddle, according to party sources. This step sent across a message that Modi will not brook any rebellion against Khattar.Khattar was perhaps at his weakest during the Jat quota agitation in 2016 where the central leadership had to run the show from behind the scene as the situation worsened.
BJP failed to cross the majority mark in the 2019 Haryana Assembly elections but Khattar survived and the party formed the government with the help of JJP and Independents.
Khattar had also faced difficulties when there were wide protests in the state after Baba Ram Rahim Singh was arrested and convicted in 2017. Though the government stuck to its tough stand on the issue, it was later ticked off by the courts for granting several paroles to Ram Rahim.
Khattar may no longer be Haryana CM but his political innings are far from over.
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