MANOHAR Lal Khattar was very confident when he became Chief Minister of Haryana as he had a comfortable majority in the state assembly but having a majority in the assembly does not necessarily assure a comfortable term. The MLAs are politicians; neither are they bachelors nor have they been pracharaks’ of the RSS. They have needs. After watching for more than a year that it is not possible to influence the Chief Minister, they started politicking. BJP MLAs from Haryana created a dissent group and apparently had the tacit support of a prominent MP from South Haryana. Newspapers soon carried reports that Khattar was likely to be replaced. At the same time, the Jat agitation for reservation started with full force. Khattar and his new advisors could not understand what was happening. The administration was perplexed. But Khattar has managed to turn the tables. He tactfully handled both the Jat agitation and his adversaries. He met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah. It is learnt that both have advised him to start delivering and interact more with the masses. Khattar has emerged more confident after the meetings as he already has the backing of RSS’ top leadership.
Of late, he is spending a lot of time in Gurugram (erstwhile Gurgaon), a trouble centre for Khattar. He has travelled to all the assembly constituencies. Taking charge, he has transferred the DGP of Haryana KP Singh on receiving complaints of unwanted transfers of lower ranking officers and jawans. The message to the MLAs is loud and clear: either work hard or 2019 is not far when tickets to nonperformers and trouble makers will be denied. The writing is clear on the wall after five state assembly elections and the recent Delhi MCD results. The dissenting Haryana BJP MLAs are now confused about what should be their next move.
