Haryana BJP govt 3.0: How Nayab Cabinet strikes caste, regional balance

Chandigarh: Nayab Saini who took the oath as the chief minister of Haryana on Thursday has struck a caste and regional balance in his 13-member council of ministers who were also sworn in on the occasion.

It is Saini’s second term as CM. Saini, an OBC leader, was the chief ministerial face declared by the BJP which has formed the government in the state for the third consecutive year after a notable win of 48 out of 90 seats in the recently held assembly election. He had replaced Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in March this year, a few months ahead of assembly polls.

The grand swearing-in ceremony was attended by several top leaders of the saffron party including Prime Minister Narendra, Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, party president J P Nadda, and the chief ministers of several NDA-ruled states including Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Andhra Pradesh.

Among the ministers who also took the oath on the occasion was the party’s senior-most leader and the 7-time legislator Anil Vij, who represents the Punjabi community and Ambala Cantt seat.

The OBC community had the maximum representation in the chief minister’s council of ministers - five ministers including the CM.

Besides the chief minister himself, other leaders from the OBC included Rao Narbir Singh (Ahir), who is MLA from Badshahpur assembly seat, Ranbir Gangwa (Prajapati) from Barwala, Rajesh Nagar (Gujjar), from Tigaon and Arti Rao (Ahir) from Ateli seat.

While two Jat leaders, namely, Mahipal Dhanda from Panipat (Rural) and Shruti Choudhry from Tosham, were sworn in as ministers, two Brahmin leaders namely Arvind Sharma, the MLA from Gohana and Gaurav Gautam from Palwal also took the oath, besides the two Dalit leaders, Krishan Panwar, the MLA from Israna and Krishan Bedi from Narwana.

Likewise, while Vipul Goel, the MLA from Faridabad belongs to the Baniya community, Radaur MLA Shyam Singh Rana belongs to the Rajput community.

While chief minister Nayab Saini, Anil Vij, Shyam Singh Rana, Mahipal Dhanda and Krishan Panwar represented GT road belt (Kurukshetra, Ambala, Yamunanagar and Panipat districts) of the state, Vipul Goel, Rajesh Nagar and Gaurav Gautam represented Faridabad and Gurugram districts of national capital region (NCR) region.

While Rao Narbir Singh and Arti Rao represented (Ahirwal belt – Gurugram and Mahendergarh districts) and Shruti Choudhry (district Bhiwani of Bagri belt), Arvind Sharma had won Gohana seat of Jat heartland Sonepat district and Krishan Bedi from Narwana seat in Jind district and Ranbir Gangwa from Nalwa seat in Hisar district (Bangar region).

Except for Rajesh Nagar and Gaurav Gautam, who were inducted as state ministers, all the other 11 ministers were inducted as Cabinet ministers. Except for Shruti Choudhry, who took the oath in English, all of the newly inducted ministers took the oath in Hindi.

With this, Saini’s council of ministers was complete with the induction of 13 ministers as Haryana can have a maximum of 14 ministers including the chief minister.

Earlier, while interacting with newspersons, Saini said that the new BJP government would work towards taking the state forward at a rapid pace under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. To a question pertaining to the new challenges, Saini said that all the promises made in the party's poll manifesto would be fully implemented like the manifestoes of 2014 and 2019 which were also completely implemented.

4 first-timers, including 2 women inducted

As many as four first-time legislators including two women have made it to the council of ministers in the Haryana BJP government.

Inducted as Cabinet minister, Arti Rao, who is also an international skeet shooter, won her debut election from the Ateli seat on the BJP ticket. Arti is the daughter of Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, the tallest Ahir leader in the state.

Notably, Arti was one of the two acclaimed sportswomen – another being the ace wrestler and Congress’ nominee Vinesh Phogat - who had made it to the 90-member Haryana assembly,

Another woman first-time MLA inducted as a Cabinet minister is Shruti Choudhry, a former MP from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh Lok Sabha seat on the Congress ticket. She is the daughter of BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana, Kiran Choudhary. Both of them had joined the saffron party recently after quitting Congress.

The third first-time MLA is Arvind Sharma, a three-time MP, who fought and won his debut assembly election from Gohana seat in Sonepat district and has been inducted as a Cabinet minister.

The fourth first-time MLA is Gaurav Gautam from Palwal seat, who has been inducted as minister of state in the Nayab Saini’s Cabinet.

Interestingly, while Chief Minister Nayab Saini himself is 54, his council of ministers also three ministers – all first-time MLAs – who are less than 50 years of age.

The youngest among them is Gaurav Gautam, from Palwal seat, who is 36. While Arti Rao from Ateli seat, is about 45, Shruti Choudhry is aged at 49 years and has won the Tosham seat. The fourth first-time MLA, Arvind Sharma is, 61, who has won the Gohana seat. However, the senior most MLA in Saini’s cabinet is Anil Vij from Ambala Cantt seat; he is 71, and a 7-time MLA followed by Krishan Panwar, 66, who is a five-time MLA and Rao Ranbir Singh, 63, is a four-time MLA.