Manohar Lal Khattar to be next CM of Haryana

TNN

New Delhi, Oct 21, 2014: Long time RSS pracharak Manohar Lal Khattar will be the next chief minister of Haryana.

 

Khattar was on Tuesday elected leader of the BJP legislature party. Union minister Venkaiah Naidu and senior leader Dinesh Sharma were observers for the meeting.

 

The 60-year-old MLA from Karnal, Khattar is a first time legislator but is being preferred by the BJP brass for his commitment to the party as also for his clean image. As reported by TOI on Monday, BJP has been pushing for a non-Jat as CM, given that it has got significant support from non-Jat voters of Haryana.

 

 

Associated with RSS for 40 years and BJP for 20 years, Khattar has worked as organising secretary of BJP in Haryana and established his reputation as a key strategist for the party in the state.

 

He is also known to be close to Narendra Modi. Khattar worked closely with the PM when the latter was BJP in charge of Haryana in 1996. Later Modi called Khattar to Gujarat in the aftermath of Bhuj earthquake to manage elections in Kutch. When Modi was contesting from Varanasi in the 2014 general elections, Khattar was in charge of 50 wards in the constituency.

 

Sources said Khattar is likely to be sworn in on the eve of Diwali.