Nayab Singh Saini Oath-Taking Updates: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nayab Singh Saini was sworn in as chief minister of Haryana for the second time on Thursday, October 17. The oath-taking ceremony of Saini and his cabinet ministers was held in Panchkula and was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah among other senior BJP leaders. Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya administered the oath of office and secrecy to Saini. Ministers of Saini's cabinet, including BJP leaders Anil Vij, Vipul Goyal, Mahipal Dhandha and Krishan Lal Panwar, were also sworn in at the ceremony. Haryana can have a maximum of 14 ministers, including the chief minister.
Massive security arrangements have been made in Panchkula for the swearing-in ceremony, which was attended by around 50,000 people at Dussehra Ground in Sector 5 in Panchkula. A traffic advisory was also been issued around the venue.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma, Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai and Deputy CMs Arun Sao, Vijay Sharma and Andhra Pradesh Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan are among senior leaders attended Saini's swearing-in ceremony. Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Manohar Lal Khattar were also present during the ceremony.
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Saini, 54, on Wednesday staked claim to form the next government in Haryana, after he was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP legislative party. An OBC face of BJP, Saini had replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as the chief minister of Haryana in March.
Hours before the ceremony, Saini visited the Valmiki Bhawan and offered prayers at a gurdwara and the Mansa Devi temple in Panchkula. He told reporters that the new BJP government will work towards taking Haryana forward at a rapid pace under the leadership of PM Modi. "I want to thank the people of Haryana for showing trust in the double-engine government and the policies of Prime Minister Modi for the third time. In the coming times, our government will work under the leadership of PM Modi to take Haryana forward at a rapid pace," he said on the assembly poll results.
Replying to a question, Saini said the BJP's 'Sankalp Patra' (poll manifesto) will be fully implemented. "Look at our 2014 Sankalp Patra and 2019 Sankalp Patra, we implemented them completely and now this Sankalp Patra will also be implemented by our government," he said.
In the October 5 assembly polls, the BJP secured an unprecedented third term in Haryana, winning 48 seats in the 90-member assembly. The Congress won 37 seats. In a departure from tradition, the BJP had declared that Saini would remain chief minister if the party returned to power in Haryana after the assembly polls.