Haryana's first BJP chief minister sworn-in

BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar was Sunday sworn-in as the chief minister of Haryana. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior party leaders like L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi attended the ceremony.

Khattar, 60, the first BJP chief minister of Haryana, took the oath in Hindi.

Nine ministers, including six of cabinet rank and three ministers of state (independent charge), were also sworn-in.

Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki administered the oath of office and secrecy to Khattar at a public ceremony at the Mela Ground in Sector 5 of Panchkula town, adjoining Chandigarh.

Khattar is the 10th chief minister of the state, which was created Nov 1, 1966.

Modi seemed to have departed from protocol to be able to attend the swearing-in of Khattar, who had worked with him when he was in charge of the BJP's affairs in Punjab and Haryana in the '90s.

Six cabinet ministers who too were sworn-in on the occasion were Ram Bilas Sharma, Abhimanyu, O.P. Dhankar, Anil Vij, Narvir Singh and Kavita Jain.

Other ministers of state (MoS) to be administered the oath of office and secrecy Sunday are Bikram Singh Thekedar, Krishan Kumar and Karan Dev Kamboj. They all will hold independent charges.

Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, Harsh Vardhan, Menaka Gandhi and V.K. Singh were also present at the event.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah and general secretary Jagat Prakash Nadda were also present.

The chief ministers of BJP ruled states - Shivraj Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh, Anandiben Patel of Gujarat, Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh and Vasundhara Raje of Rajasthan - as well as Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leaders attended the event.

The BJP created political history last Sunday by winning 47 seats in the Haryana assembly polls.