BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) chief Dushyant Chautala took oath as the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister respectively of Haryana on Sunday, at the Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by many BJP leaders and ministers both union and state, including Union Minister JP Nadda, Akali Dal chief Prakash Singh Badal, Sukhbir Singh Badal and Congress’ Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Earlier, on October 26 Khattar and his alliance partner Dushyant met Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya and staked claim to form the government in the state.
The Governor accepted their proposal and invited the coalition to form the next government in the state after they presented the support of 40 MLAs of the BJP, 10 of the JJP and seven Independents.
ML Khattar tendered his resignation as the chief minister, which was accepted by Governor Satyadeo Narain.
Yesterday, Khattar was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP Legislative Party in Haryana. Khattar’s name was proposed by MLAs Anil Vij and Kanwar Pal and seconded by other BJP legislators.
Meanwhile, JJP chief Dushyant’s father Ajay Chautala, who was in Tihar jail in connection with a corruption case, had been granted furlough for two weeks and he walked out of the Tihar jail today.
On Friday night, BJP chief and Home Minister Amit Shah announced the formation of a coalition government with the JJP in Haryana.
BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party with 40 seats, six short of majority, secured the support of seven Independents as well as former minister Gopal Kanda, who is accused of abetting the suicides of his then airline’s employee, Geetika Sharma, in 2012, and her mother early next year.
However, the saffron party decided not to include Kanda’s name in the list of MLAs supporting it, after the party faced large-scale ire on social media and went on seek the support of JJP.
Following the announcement of the alliance, Dushyant Chautala said it was important for the BJP and JJP to come together “to give a stable government” to Haryana.