Manohar Lal Khattar takes oath as Haryana CM for second term

Eventually, a new government was formed in Haryana on the auspicious occassion of Diwali. Manohar Lal Khattar was sworn in as the 11th Chief Minister of the state on the day of the festival. He was accompanied by Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) supremo Dushyant Chautala who was sworn in as deputy chief minister as the BJP-JJP alliance government is formed this time.

 BJP MLA – 40, JJP MLA – 10, Independents – 07, Total – 57

Independents supporting BJP — Balraj Kundu (Maham), Ranjit Chautala (Raniya), Dharampal Gondar (Neelokheri), Somveer Sangwan (Dadri), Randhir Golan (Pundri), Nayan Pal Rawat (Prithala), Rakesh Daulatabad (Badshahpur) )

The oath taking ceremony was held at Raj Bhawan, Chandigarh. It was a simple ceremony in which Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister. Dushyant Chautala’s father Ajay Chautala, mother Naina Chautala and brother Digvijay Chautala were present at the ceremony.

Former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and son Akali Dal Supremo Sukhbir Badal, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, BJP State President Subhash Barala, Haryana BJP in-charge Anil Jain, BJP Executive Chairman JP Nadda and MP Ratan Lal Kataria arrived at the ceremony.

Apart from these, many veteran BJP leaders, MPs, newly elected MLAs and independent MLAs were present. Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore also appeared in the ceremony.

Manohar Lal is the 11th Chief Minister of Haryana and hails from a Punjabi family. He is the first Chief Minister of Haryana who comes from non-Jat community. He is also the first non-Jat leader to hold the post of Chief Minister for the second consecutive time. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and has been a promoter of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He will represent Karnal for the second time in the 13th Assembly of Haryana. He also became the Chief Minister in 2014 and ran the government for five whole years.

Manohar Lal was born on 5 May 1954 in Nidana village, Rohtak. Manohar Lal’s father’s name was Harbans Lal. He came to Rohtak with the family during the partition of India-Pakistan in 1947. Due to poor financial condition of the family, his father and grandfather had to work as daily wage laborers. Somehow the family managed to purchase some land and started farming. Manohar Lal himself used to go on a cycle to sell vegetables.

Manohar Lal did his early education from Pandit Neki Ram Sharma Government College. His father did not want to let him study further. But Manohar wanted to study further and become a doctor. After finishing high school, he came to Delhi by borrowing money from his family members and after graduating from Delhi University, started preparing for medical. Manohar Lal gave pre medical thrice, but could not clear it.

Manohar Lal joined the RSS at the age of 24. In 1979 he arrived at the conference of Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Allahabad and met many saints and RSS promoters. In 1980, he decided to join the RSS and not marry. His decision was strongly opposed by the family members, but he did not agree. After working in 12 states like Gujarat, Himanchal, Jammu and Kashmir for 14 consecutive years, he got an opportunity to enter active politics from the Union in 1994.

In 1995, BJP made him the organization minister of Haryana. In 1996, he allied with BJP in power in alliance with Bansi Lal’s Haryana Vikas Party. Then when he saw that the Bansi Lal government was not going well, he persuaded the high command to return support. He contested the Karnal seat for the first time in the 2014 assembly elections and became the CM of Haryana on 26 October 2014, winning by a record-breaking vote.