Khattar to take oath as Haryana CM today
| Date :27-Oct-2019 |
JJP leader Dushyant Chautala to be Deputy CM
Khattar has support of 57 MLAs -- 40 of the BJP, 10 of the JJP and seven Independents
CHANDIGARH :
MANOHAR Lal Khattar is all set to head a new Government in Haryana with JJP leader Dushyant Chautala as his deputy after the Governor on Saturday invited him to lead the coalition which also has the support of seven Independents. Khattar, Dushyant and some Ministers will be sworn-in at 2:15 pm at the Haryana Raj Bhavan on Sunday. The day saw fast-paced developments with 65-year-old Khattar unanimously elected leader of the BJP’s legislative party in Haryana after which the BJP along with the support of the JJP and seven Independents staked claim before Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya to form the Government. Khattar said the Governor was informed that a total of 57 MLAs -- 40 of the BJP, 10 of the JJP and seven Independents -- have come together to form the Government.
“The Governor accepted it and invited us to form the Government on Sunday,” Khattar said, adding Dushyant would take oath his deputy. He said the names of the Ministers who will also take oath will be made known on Sunday. Dushyant told reporters that the BJP and the JJP have taken a decision to give a stable Government for five years. When asked about the Congress’s accusation that the JJP was not respecting people’s mandate as it fought the polls against the BJP, Dushyant replied, “I want to ask: did we fight this battle together with Congress?
The people gave this mandate against the Congress too. “Congress is that party which Devi Lal left before 1977. In Haryana, Congress is being led by those who looted the State for ten years, sold 63,000 acres of land, CLU gang was active in state.” On his father Ajay Singh Chautala’s release on furlough for two weeks, Dushyant said that as per jail manual, he could not have come out before Sunday as the Model Code of Conduct was in place in the State till Saturday. “He is coming out to celebrate Diwali with the family,” he said. Earlier, Khattar and his Cabinet colleagues submitted their resignations to the Governor, which were accepted.
The Governor asked Khattar to continue as the interim Chief Minister till the new Government took over. In the 90- member Haryana Assembly, a minimum strength of 46 MLAs is required to form the Government. Earlier in the day, Khattar was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP’s legislative party in Haryana here, with BJP claiming that it would provide a“stable and honest” Government in Haryana with the support of the JJP. The BJP also clarified that there would be only one deputy chief minister in the party-led coalition Government in the State. Khattar’s name was proposed by MLAs Anil Vij and Kanwar Pal and seconded by other party legislators including Ghanshyam Saraf and Banwari Lal. After being elected as the legislative party leader, Dushyant met Khattar at the UT guest house, the venue of BJP meet.
After the meeting, Khattar, Dushyant along with seven Independents met the Governor. Dushyant and the Independents also gave their letters of support to the Governor.To a question on who would be accommodated in the new State Cabinet, he said it was the prerogative of the Chief Minister, who would take a call in this regard after the oath-taking ceremony. The BJP on Friday had sealed a deal with the JJP to form the Government after BJP fell short of six seats from the majority mark. Under the arrangement, the Chief Minister will be from the BJP and deputy CM from the JJP, which won 10 seats in the polls. SONIA GANDHI HAPPY WITH PARTY’S PERFORMANCE IN HARYANA ASSEMBLY POLLS, SAYS HOODA: FORMER Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was happy with the party’s performance in the Haryana Assembly elections. Speaking to ANI after meeting Sonia Gandhi, Hooda said, “She said it was a good performance, she is happy.” In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the Congress won 31 seats, the BJP got 40 seats and the 11-month old JJP won 10 seats in its debut assembly polls.
BJP will not take Kanda’s support in Haryana: Ravi Shankar Prasad
CHANDIGARH :
THE BJP will not take the support of Haryana Lokhit Party legislator Gopal Kanda, a controversial politician who faces two abetment-to-suicide cases, for forming the Government in Haryana, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here on Saturday. “I want to clarify one thing that the BJP is not going to take the support of Kanda,” he told reporters here. Kanda had, on Friday, said he had decided to extend his unconditional support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The BJP came under attack from the Congress after Kanda extended his support to the BJP. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused the BJP of doublespeak. “I think you should look at the statements made by (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and (Union Home Minister and BJP chief ) Amit Shah when Gopal Kanda was a Minister in Haryana, when we forced him to resign after registration of a case (against him) and also removed him from ministership,” he said in Delhi.
Kanda, the Sirsa MLA, was arrested in 2012 for allegedly abetting the suicide of an airhostess, who worked for his now-defunct aviation company. In a tweet, former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Uma Bharti also cautioned her party, saying taking Kanda’s support to form the government in Haryana could hurt the clean image of Modi and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. He was also initially booked for rape, but the charge was dropped when the Delhi High Court granted him bail in the abetment-to-suicide case in 2014.