Nayab Saini to take oath as Haryana CM; PM Modi, Shah to attend

Chandigarh: Nayab Singh Saini will take oath as the chief minister of Haryana at a ceremony in Panchkula where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP bigwigs and NDA partners will be in attendance on Thursday.

Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Saini, who will become the chief minister for the second time.

Ministers of Saini's cabinet are also likely to be sworn in at the ceremony. Haryana can have a maximum of 14 ministers, including the chief minister.

Massive security arrangements have been made for the ceremony.

In the October 5 Haryana polls, the BJP secured an unprecedented third term in the state, winning 48 seats in the 90-member assembly. The Congress won 37 seats.

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

In a departure from tradition, the BJP had declared that Saini would remain chief minister if the party returned to power in Haryana after the assembly polls.

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

Saini's elevation from the Haryana BJP president to the 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.

The BJP's gamble paid off with Saini leading the BJP to victory, defying exit poll predictions of a clean sweep for the Congress.