Reshuffle on mind, Khattar tells Shah

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 18

As Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar met party president Amit Shah at Haryana Government’s Chanakyapuri guest house in Delhi yesterday, a Cabinet reshuffle was proposed. With elections due in the state next year and the party high command indicating that it has no intention to replace Khattar, the CM proposed certain changes in consultation with the party in-charge. He is yet to get the go-ahead.

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Sources said Khattar was accompanied by Haryana party in-charge Dr Anil Jain, organising secretary Suresh Bhatt and Sangh representative Arun Khanna. The meeting lasted over three hours.

Khattar is believed to have suggested that a senior minister be dropped and made state BJP president in place of Subhash Barala and the latter be taken in the Cabinet. There was talk of Barala being inducted in the Cabinet last year as well. But with his son being arrested in the Varnika Kundu stalking case, his elevation was put on hold. The Chief Minister also proposed that another senior minister, with whom he does not have cordial ties, be dropped and sent on a gubernatorial assignment. To mollify this minister, one of his relatives, who is is an MLA, may be appointed Minister of State. 

The CM, said sources, suggested that if this minister could not be made Governor, he could be made Speaker and the latter be inducted in the Cabinet. The axe may fall on yet another minister who joined the BJP just before the 2014 elections. If this happens, a woman MLA may be taken in the Cabinet. The BJP leadership too has discussed the pros and cons of a portfolio reshuffle for a new-look Haryana Government, the sources said.

Khattar has been on the firing line of the Opposition because of the Rampal episode, Jat agitation and Panchkula violence. But he has survived owing to the Prime Minister’s backing. At an informal Cabinet meeting in Faridabad in May 2017, several senior ministers had asked the BJP high command to prevail upon Khattar to mend his “dictatorial” ways. They had alleged that official works were being scuttled by bureaucrats on the plea that the CM had asked them to do so. They had cited several instances to make their point.