OBC influence in focus as Nayab Singh Saini council takes oath in Haryana

Nayab Singh Saini, who led the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to a historic third consecutive Assembly election victory in Haryana, took the oath as the state’s chief minister, along with a 13-member council of ministers, in Panchkula on Thursday.

The council of ministers includes representatives from all major castes in the state, with two members each from the Brahmin, Jat, and Scheduled Caste (SC) communities, and one each from Rajput and Vaishya. It also includes two women. But five of the 14 council members, including Saini, are from Other Backward Classes (OBCs), underscoring the crucial role their support played in the BJP’s Assembly election success.

The BJP won an unprecedented 48 seats, its best performance ever, while the Congress secured 37 in the recently concluded Assembly elections. However, the contest was much closer in terms of vote share, with the BJP receiving 39.94 per cent compared to the Congress’ 39.09 per cent. The oath-taking ceremony was also a display of strength for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, and BJP chief JP Nadda, along with 18 NDA chief ministers and deputy chief ministers, in attendance.

Before taking the oath, Saini, who was elected BJP legislature party chief on Wednesday, offered prayers at the Valmiki Temple in Panchkula to mark Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti, a big occasion for the Balmiki Scheduled Caste community, which has a sizeable presence in Haryana. The ceremony, held on the Valmiki Jayanti, underlined the BJP’s renewed commitment to engaging with Haryana’s Dalit communities during the Assembly polls.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, large sections of Haryana’s SC communities were believed to have deserted the BJP, which led to the party’s loss in five of the 10 seats, including both SC-reserved segments, to the Congress. In the 2024 Assembly elections, however, the BJP won eight of the 17 reserved seats, compared to just five in 2019. The party had secured nine reserved seats in 2014. The BJP deviated from its recent practice of appointing deputy chief ministers, as seen in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh. BJP-led coalition governments in Bihar and Maharashtra also have deputy CMs.

Key ministers in Saini’s council include Anil Vij, Arvind Kumar Sharma, Shyam Singh Rana, Krishan Bedi, Krishan Lal Panwar, Rao Narbir Singh, Mahipal Dhanda, Vipul Goel, Shruti Choudhury, and Arti Singh Rao.