New BJP government to take oath in Haryana on Oct 17, PM Modi to attend

The new BJP government in Haryana will be sworn in as the Haryana Chief Minister on October 17. The oath-taking ceremony will be held in Panchkula, the party said in a statement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior BJP leaders and chief ministers of some other states will attend the event.

The oath-taking ceremony will be held at the Dusshera ground at 10 am in Panchkula Sector 5.

The BJP is yet to announce their Chief Minister pick, but reports say that the party will continue with Nayab Singh Saini. Saini had replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as Haryana Chief Minister in March, and was instrumental in helping the party win the recent assembly elections.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended up with its best-ever haul of 48 seats, 11 more than the Congress. The Janta Jannayak Party (JJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were decimated and the INLD managed to win just two seats.

The saffron party defied an anti-incumbency of 10 years, as well as exit polls, that had projected a massive win for the opposition Congress.

BJP’s Haryana plan

According to BJP insiders, the key to this remarkable victory lay in carefully strategized social engineering and tough choices, including the decision to drop 14 sitting MLAs to counter anti-incumbency in the state. The party fielded 27 candidates, of whom 15 emerged victorious.

Both its seat share and vote share, 53.3% and 39.9% respectively are the highest ever for the party in any assembly election in the state.

BJP sources say the Lok Sabha verdict had set alarms bells ringing as the party was also grappling with factionalism and a disenchanted cadre. After the BJP won five of the 10 seats and secured a lead in 44 assembly segments in the Lok Sabha elections, the government woke up to ground realities and took corrective steps.