Former RSS Parcharak and first time MLA, Manohar Lal Khattar, is chosen the first saffron Chief Minister of Haryana.
Sixty-year-old Khattar, a non-jatt and the first Punjabi Chief Minister of the state, was elected leader of BJP Legislature Party, two days after the party stormed to power on its own.
The announcement was made on Tuesday at a meeting of 47 newly-elected MLAs at the Chandigarh UT Guest House, party vice-president Dinesh Sharma, who attended the meeting along with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu as central observers, told reporters.
Khattar, a first-time MLA, has worked as an RSS Pracharak for 40 long years. Born in Rohtak district, he had contested the Assembly elections from Karnal. He won the Karnal seat with a margin of 63,736 votes. He is stated to be close to the Prime Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah Sharma said that the date of swearing in ceremony of the party’s first government will be announced soon. Another aspirant for the post of Chief Minister Haryana BJP President Ram Bilas Sharma told reporters that he had proposed Khattar’s name, which was seconded by several MLAs including another aspirant Abhimanyu and Prem Lata (wife of Birender Singh who joined the BJP from Congress recently). Sharma said that they would meet Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki to stake claim for government formation.