New Delhi, India

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his entire cabinet submitted their resignations to Governor Bandaru Dattatreya on Tuesday (Mar 12) as the north Indian state's coalition partners BJP and JJP headed for a split ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) later held a meeting and appointed its State BJP chief Nayab Singh Saini as legislature group leader. Saini also met Governor Dattatraya and staked claimed to form the new government and will take oath as the new chief minister at 5 pm.

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Confirming Saini's appointment, State BJP MLA Krishan Lal Middha said, “Nayab Singh Saini to be next CM of Haryana. All people are now going to meet the Governor...nothing has been discussed about Deputy Chief Minister."

Saini, an influential figure in the OBC community, is BJP's Lok Sabha MP from Kurukshetra and was appointed the state party president in October last year.

There were reports that BJP also wanted to effect a change at the helm to ward off anti-incumbency ahead of the assembly elections. Besides, since Saini is seen as an OBC leader, the BJP wants to keep the caste equations right as the party heads for the general elections.

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As per reports, the coalition partners BJP and JJP failed to reach any seat-sharing arrangements for the general elections. The local media also reported that Khattar is also likely to contest Lok Sabha elections from Karnal or Kurukshetra.

The ruling BJP has 41 seats in Haryana's 90-member assembly which makes it the single-largest party in the state.

A new government is likely to be formed by BJP with support from independent MLAs. BJP is claiming that besides its 41 MLAs, five independents will back it, just enough to cross the half-way mark of 45 seats.

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The BJP became the ruling party in the state after entering a post-election alliance with leader Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which currently has 10 MLAs. JJP had entered into a post-poll alliance with BJP when the latter fell short of majority after the 2019 assembly elections. The BJP had won all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2019 elections. 

Talks for seat sharing in the Lok Sabha elections broke down after BJP did not yield to JJP’s demand for two out of 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The BJP was offering just one seat to JJP.

Amid the stalemate, Dushyant Chautala met BJP national president JP Nadda in capital New Delhi on Monday and reportedly told him JJP will not share seats with BJP in the Lok Sabha.

Earlier, independent MLA Nayan Pal Rawat said that he kind of got a hint that the alliance was falling apart. 

"I met the chief minister yesterday. We have already extended our support to the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government. We also discussed the strategy for the Lok Sabha elections. I got the impression that the process of breaking the alliance with JJP has already started," Rawat was quoted as saying by ANI news agency.

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Khattar to contest Lok Sabha elections?

The resignation of Khattar came amid reports that he might contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the Karnal seat, which is currently held by BJP leader Sanjay Bhatia, or Kurukshetra from where Saini is the MP. Both BJP and JJP's (Jannayak Janata Party) top leadership have called emergency meetings of their MLAs.  

Khattar held a meeting with all BJP ministers at his residence earlier. Central BJP leaders, including Union minister Arjun Munda and former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb are in Haryana currently. 

(With inputs from agencies)