Nuh Clashes: Murmurs grow in BJP over Haryana CM ML Khattar's removal

New Delhi: With violence in the Nuh district of Haryana, murmurs have grown in the Bharatiya Janata Party seeking the removal of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Sources stated that several party leaders have expressed their displeasure to the central leadership regarding the lacking administrative capabilities of Khattar, and have demanded strict action against him.

Many in the saffron unit feel that with the country heading to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and Haryana too going to Legislative Assembly elections, it may be high time that the BJP rids itself of the inefficient leadership of Khattar.

“The time to replace the chief minister is now. This will enable the state unit to start afresh and remove the 10-year-long anti-incumbency being faced by Khattar,” sources said.

Leaders in the party pointed out that the BJP made a mistake by not replacing the Chief Minister in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh and lost the polls. Had Jairam Thakur been replaced the anti-incumbency would have been negated to a great extent.

Sources pointed out that last year when the move to change Chief Minister of Uttarakhand was made there was also a plan to change the Himachal CM. However, BJP chief JP Nadda had backed Jairam Thakur and prevailed upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to not make the change in Himachal, leading to the poll debacle.

A similar situation is now being witnessed in Haryana and party sources stated that it was time that the BJP took a hard decision and learnt its lessons from Himachal loss.

“It is a similar timeline that was implemented while changing the CMs of Gujarat and Uttarakhand. It paid huge dividends for the BJP as it stormed back to power in both states and with a better majority,” sources added.

Why delay punishing Khattar for plunging Haryana into chaos repeatedly?

Over the past decade, the BJP has given the long rope to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar despite his repeated failures in controlling the law and order situation and plunging the state into chaos.

Khattar seems to have been protected despite his failure causing the biggest embarrassment to the Narendra Modi government in its second tenure, the farmers' protest. The farmers were allowed to lay siege to the national capital for over a year, and the Haryana government was not even able to stop the protest or the supplies that continued to feed protestors with food and money.

Sources stated that Khattar is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hence the difficulty in acting against him. The two have an association dating back to Modi’s Sangh days during his deputation in Haryana. However, it seems that the latest violence may finally lead to a rethink in Khattar’s role in state politics.

The communal violence has brought Gurugram, north India’s commercial and IT hub, to a virtual standstill. And as India is set to host the G20 summit next month, the need to put an end to hatred and violence as quickly as possible is being felt in the higher echelons of the Central government.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a third term, the BJP can ill afford to lose the crucial state. While the BJP had secured seven out of the ten Lok Sabha seats in 2014, the state had given all 10 seats to the saffron unit in 2019. And the BJP hopes to repeat its 100 per cent strike rate in Haryana in 2024 by resolving this leadership crisis well in time.

The BJP secured 49 seats in the 2014 Haryana Assembly polls, forming its first-ever government in the state under Khattar. However, BJP had to ally with the JJP in 2019 after its seats fell short of the halfway mark due to rebel candidates.

The party leaders hope that BJP can complete a hat-trick of wins if suitable changes are affected immediately in the state leadership.