BJP plans bigger role for Haryana ex-CM Manohar Lal Khattar at national level

Pradeep Sharma

Chandigarh, March 13

After around 10 years in Haryana’s electoral politics, bigger role at the national level seems to be in the offing for the BJP’s poster boy and former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who has been nominated by the party from the Karnal parliamentary seat.

Khattar’s nomination for the Lok Sabha on a day when he resigned from the Haryana Vidhan Sabha indicated his proximity to the party high command, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the event of the NDA forming the government at the Centre post-2024 Lok Sabha elections, Khattar could expect a prominent role in New Delhi.

In fact, it has been a roller-coaster ride for RSS pracharak-turned-politician Khattar, who strode like a colossus on Haryana’s political landscape for nearly nine-and-a-half years. From first-time MLA to being nominated as Chief Minister in 2014 and serving the second term till he was replaced on March 12 in a sudden development, Khattar seems to have seen it all.

A proponent of transparency and good governance, Khattar emerged as the party’s poster boy coining oft-repeated slogan of “no parchi, no kharchi (no recommendation, no bribe) to underscore transparency in government recruitments.

Besides, he coined the slogans of “Haryana ek, Haryanvi ek” to combat regionalism and casteism in a state where region and caste plays a dominant role in the social and political system.

Earlier in the day, Khattar had asserted that he would fulfil whatever responsibility was entrusted to him in a proper manner.

Political journey

• Khattar joined RSS in 1977 and worked for the ideological parent of the BJP for 17 years
• In 1994, Khattar joined the BJP and was asked to become general secretary (organisation) in Haryana
• In 2014, he contested the election for the first time and became the first BJP Chief Minister in Haryana
• In 2019, he became Haryana’s Chief Minister for the second term when the BJP stitched together an alliance with the JJP
• In 2024, nominated by the BJP from the Karnal Lok Sabha seat

Hope to get voters’ support

I hope I will get the same love and support from voters of the Karnal parliamentary constituency in the coming Lok Sabha elections which they bestowed on me during my two tenures as Karnal MLA. — Manohar Lal Khattar, BJP nominee from Karnal.