 "Haryana Assembly election results 2024: How Nayab Singh Saini is BJP’s man of the moment")
The state of Haryana has turned saffron. After exit polls and early trends had predicted a win for the Congress, the BJP flipped the script and is now on the path of winning the state a record third consecutive time, which no other party has been able to do. Election Commission of India data reveals that the BJP has secured 48 seats in a 90-member Assembly, while the Congress was able to win 37 seats.
And the man of the hour, is none other than, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini. Winning his individual seat from Ladwa with a margin of over 16,000 votes, reports suggest that the BJP will retain him for another term.
But who is Nayab Singh Saini? And how did he pull of Mission Haryana?
Rise of Nayab Singh Saini
Born in Ambala’s Mirzapur Majra village on January 25, 1970, he earned a BA degree from BR Ambedkar Bihar University in Muzaffarpur and an LLB degree from Ch Charan Singh University in Meerut.
He has steadily risen within the party since joining it three decades ago. He started off as a computer operator at the party’s state headquarters and was involved in organisational work by 1996. After completing his education, Saini became involved with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), where he met Manohar Lal Khattar, who would later play a crucial role in his political ascent.
In 2002, he became the district president of the BJP Yuva Morcha in Ambala and became the district president three years later. Saini unsuccessfully contested the 2009 Assembly elections, but was later elected in 2014 from Naraingarh. Owing to his close ties to Khattar, he also scored a ministerial berth then. His biggest poll success was in 2019 when he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kurukshetra.
Saini was then appointed as the Haryana BJP chief in October 2023 in an effort by the party to strengthen its hold over the OBC community and non-Jats.
It was in March this year, before the Lok Sabha elections that the BJP elevated him to the chief ministerial post, hours after Manohar Lal Khattar and ministers resigned.
Charting success in Haryana
The BJP replaced Khattar with Saini in March, just two months before the Lok Sabha elections, in a move to counter the anti-incumbency wave that Khattar was facing after being in power for nine-and-a-half years.
However, the move, it seemed, didn’t help the BJP in the general elections. The party suffered a setback winning just five of the 10 seats. Questions were raised and many pointed fingers at Saini for the loss.
But Saini chose not to be bogged down by the electoral defeat. He began working in earnest, ensuring that the BJP returns to power for a third straight term in the state. One of the biggest decisions that may have changed the tide for Saini and the BJP in the elections was approving the Haryana Agniveer Policy, 2024. This would allow for employment and entrepreneurship opportunities to Agniveers after the completion of their service in the Armed Forces.
Another decision that worked in Saini’s favour was the approval to the proposal of buying 10 more crops at minimum support price, making Haryana the only state to purchase 24 crops at MSP.
The BJP under Saini also promised to provide cooking gas cylinders at Rs 500 under the ‘Har Ghar Grahani Yojana’. The party’s poll manifesto made more promises — monthly financial assistance of Rs 2,100 for women, two lakh government jobs for youths and guaranteed government jobs for Agniveers from Haryana.
Saini also launched a state subsidy scheme under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojna’, providing rooftop solar plants to poor families at no financial burden to them.
Moreover, he announced an increase in annual income limit for creamy layer from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh, with the attempt of reaching out to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Scheduled Castes (SCs) in the state.
The Haryana CM also ensured that a big chunk of his campaign was geared to highlight the Congress’ many failures — corruption, scams, favouritism. While crisscrossing across the state during the election campaign, he also told voters about the Congress’ “failures” to fulfil poll promises in states like Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana.
Defying it all
When exit polls were announced on October 5, with most predicting a win for the Congress, Saini remained unfazed, saying they had got it wrong. “Aath tareekh (Oct 8) ko janta degi jawab, aur yeh (Congress) kahenge EVM hai kharab (The people will respond on October 8 and the Congress will blame EVMs for its defeat),” Saini had said.
And it seems that he was bang on in his prediction. With the election tide turning today (October 8), the BJP has secured a win, leaving the Congress in the dust and once again blaming the Election Commission for ‘slow upload of data’.
With inputs from agencies
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