Chandigarh, Oct 17 (UNI) Fifty-four-year old Nayab Singh Saini on Thursday sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Haryana for the second consecutive time at Panchkula Parade ground near here in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders.
Saini had led the BJP to victory in the Assembly Polls and it was a historic third consecutive victory for the saffron outfit in the Northern state.
Governor Bandaru Dattatreya administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Chief Minister and his Ministers at a highly packed ceremony.
The oath-taking Ceremony ws attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP’ President JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, along with 18 Chief Ministers from National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-ruled states.
Besides Nayab Singh Saini, 13 other BJP MLAs took oath as Ministers which included six cabinet Ministers – Anil Vij, Krishan Lal Panwar, Rao Narveer Singh, Mahipal Dhanda,Vipul Goyal and Dr. Arvind Sharma.
While, Sham Singh Rana, Ranveer Singh Gangwa, Krishan Kumar Bedi, Shruti Chaudhary, Arti Singh Rao, Rajesh Nagar, Gaurav Gautam took oath as Minister of State.
Before taking the oath as Chief Minister, Nayab Singh Saini paid homage at the Valmiki Temple in Panchkula, on the occasion of Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti.
Speaking to reporters, Saini said, “It is a matter of good fortune for me that today is the birth anniversary of Lord Valmiki. He worked to end the evils prevalent in the society and gave a message to the society. Today it is my good fortune that I have got the opportunity to worship at the feet of Lord Valmiki.
I extend my heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to all the people of the state on his birth anniversary.”
Tight security arrangements have been made in Panchkula for the swearing-in ceremony where over 30,000 people are believed to attend the event. Traffic advisory has been issued around the venue.
Nayab Singh Saini had replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as the Chief Minister of Haryana in March 2024. Saini, an OBC face of the party, had won from Ladwa Constituency in Kurukshetra district.
He was declared the CM face by the BJP before the assembly election in the state.
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), Saini won the Ladwa assembly seat by defeating Mewa Singh of the Congress by a margin of over 16,000 votes.
In the recently concluded assembly election in the state, the BJP won 48 seats and the Congress party 37 seats in the 90-member assembly in the state.
On Wednesday, Saini met Dattatreya and staked claim to form the next government after he was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party in a meeting held at the party office in Panchkula.