Nayab Singh Saini: Khattar loyalist who has risen through ranks

Geetanjali Gayatri

Chandigarh, March 12

Six months after being elevated as Bharatiya Janata Party’s Haryana unit president, 54-year-old OBC leader Nayab Singh Saini, an Ambala resident, has been entrusted with the reins of the state.

A staunch loyalist of predecessor Manohar Lal Khattar, Saini has maintained a low profile and stayed away from controversies. Khattar had played a significant role in catapulting him to the top party post on the completion of Om Prakash Dhankar’s tenure last October.

His elevation by the party, which banks on non-Jat vote, is being seen as a move to consolidate its position amongst the OBCs.

An LLB, Saini started his political career with the BJP as a party worker in 1996. Having worked to strengthen the cadre over the next few years, he was appointed Ambala district secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in 2002. Later, he was elevated to the post of district president of the morcha.

After the BJYM, he served as state secretary of BJP’s Kisan Morcha before being appointed district president of party’s Ambala unit. After an unsuccessful attempt at making it to the state Assembly from Ambala’s Naraingarh seat in 2009, Saini registered a win in the 2014 elections.

Saini was picked as a state minister in the first term of the Khattar government. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the party fielded him from Kurukshetra, which he won with a comfortable margin.

Born on January 25, 1970, at Mirzapur Majra in Ambala, Saini’s ties with Khattar go back to their RSS days. After taking oath as the CM, Saini touched Khattar’s feet as also that of the Governor. Expressing gratitude to the central leadership, Saini appreciated Khattar for his “good governance” model. “We will build on what Khattar has strived to achieve. His ‘Haryana ek, Haryanvi ek’ slogan, giving jobs without favour and earning public trust with progressive steps will continue to shape our policies,” said Saini.