Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh
When Manohar Lal Khattar takes
over as the first BJP Chief Minister of Haryana on October 26, he will be face
to face with administration and governance for the first time in his 40-year
long political-social career and the most important challenge for him will be
to overcome the general perception that he is an “outsider” in the political
system.
Like his benefactor, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, who had never been a legislator or Minister before
becoming Chief Minister of Gujarat , Khattar too has
never been an MLA or Minister before. Like Modi, he was deputed by the RSS in
the organisation and worked his way up before being surprisingly selected to
contest from Karnal. The moment his name was announced from the seat, it was clear
that the top BJP leadership had a political script written for him if the party
wins the Assembly polls.
BJP sources say that lack of
administrative exposure would be an asset for Khattar rather than a handicap as
he will assume office without a conditioned mindset about governance. “This is
where he will score and provide an administrative set up which will not only be
new for Haryana but also unique in several ways,” said a source, associated
with the process of selecting the new chief minister of the state.
For a non-Jat leader, one
challenge would of course be to assuage the sentiments of the dominant Jat
community, comprising 25 per cent of the population and used to the
psychological factor of one amongst them being the Chief Minister ever since
the State was created 48 years ago. For almost two decades after Bhajan Lal,
the State had a series of Jat Chief Ministers-Bansi Lal, Om Prakash Chautala
and Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Khattar will have to accommodate not only Jats but
other communities also in governance and ensure that there is no sense of being
left alone or out of power.
BJP leaders have indicated that
Capt Abhimanyu, who was in the race for chief ministership and is a Jat face of
the party and MLA from Narnaund, could become the new Haryana BJP president in
the changed scenario. He has been a national spokesman of the party and has
also worked in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab . “It is
necessary to keep the dominant community of the state in the loop and a part of
the party and Government in a big way for consolidating the gains of the
assembly polls,” a party insider said. Another possibility, which was being
discussed, was to make him Deputy Chief Minister. But this would create two
centres of power and the leadership does not want it. If Capt Abhimanyu becomes
the BJP president of the state, present president Ram Bilas Sharma could get an
important department in Khattar’s Cabinet.
Chaudhary Birender Singh, the
grandson of tallest Jat leader of his time, Sir Chhotu Ram, who joined the BJP
from the Congress before the Assembly polls, could get a berth in the Union
His wife Premlata was the giant
killer in Assembly polls who defeated Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala from Uchana
Kalan. Presently, both the representatives in the Modi Cabinet from Haryana-Rao
Inderjit Singh and Krishna Pal Gurjar-are non-Jats and a section of BJP
believes that sending him to Centre makes political sense at this point. With
the help of Capt Abhimanyu and Chaudhary Birender, the BJP plans to make
inroads in the rural hinterland and Jat belt of the State from where it did not
perform well in the Assembly polls.
Besides the political issues,
Khattar would also be facing some administrative challenges. Just before being
voted out, the Hooda Government had stirred up a hornets’ nest by passing a
Bill for creation of separate Gurudwara management committee for Haryana. This
was strongly opposed by BJP’s ally Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab .
Though the legality of the issue is in Supreme Court, demands are already being
made to call back the passage of the Bill and make it null and void.
In addition, there are several
disputes pending with neighbouring Punjab for decades,
which includes sharing of river water, controversial Hansi-Butana canal,
transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab
along with the Punjabi speaking areas of the state etc. As Congress was in power in Haryana all these
years, these issues were always kept under the carpet. Now that BJP is in
power, it will have a reassess the situation and take a call. There would also
be pressure from Akali Dal-BJP Government in Punjab on
Khattar to expedite some of these long pending issues. (October 23, 2014 )
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