Manohar Lal Khattar set for 2nd term as Haryana CM, to stake claim today

Faridabad : Manohar Lal Khattar is all set to begin his second term as the chief minister of Haryana, he has been scheduled to meet the governor Satyadev Narayan Arya in Chandigarh on Saturday to stake claim to form the government.

The results for the Haryana Assembly Elections were announced on Thursday with ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerging as the single-largest party though it was stopped short of simple majority. Manohar Lal Khattar spent the night in the national capital fine-tuning the party’s strategy and work out the details of the state government, which has to rely on non-BJP legislators.

The good news came on Friday night when BJP announced an alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which won 10 of Haryana’s 90 seats and was expected to play a key role in state politics.

The BJP had won 40 seats, six seats short of a simple majority and seven fewer that what it won five years ago. The BJP’s decision to win over Chautala underlines its quest to placate Jats, a dominant community in the state who are believed to have voted mostly against the saffron party in the recent polls, to ensure a smooth run of its government.

Earlier in the day, Chautala put forward some conditions for an alliance. At a press conference at his Janpath residence in Delhi, Chautala said, “No one is untouchable for us. We will support whichever party agrees to implement our agenda as part of a common minimum programme. The JJP will ally with any party that promises 75% reservation of jobs for Haryanvis in Haryana and continues with pension for senior citizens...”