Nayab Singh Saini was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Haryana on Thursday, marking his second term, after BJP secured an unprecedented third term in the state.  Nayab Saini’s council of ministers also took oath at the high-profile ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leaders.

Governor of Haryana, Bandaru Dattatreya administered the oath of office and secrecy to Nayab Saini. The swearing-in ceremony took place at the Dussehra Ground in Panchkula, amidst the presence of Union Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, as well as chief ministers from National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-ruled states.

CM Saini walked on stage at the swearing-in ceremony with his predecessor and mentor Manohar Lal Khattar by his side. After Nayab Saini, Senior BJP leader and MLA Anil Vij, who was rumoured to be in the running for Chief Minister, took oath as a minister in the Saini 2.0 Cabinet.

Notably, Haryana can have a maximum of 14 ministers, including the Chief Minister in the cabinet. Beside Anil Vij, Krishan Lal Panwar, Rao Narbir Singh, Mahipal Dhanda, Vipul Goel, Arvind Kumar Sharma, Shruti Choudhry, Shyam Singh Rana, Ranbir Singh Gangwa, Krishan Bedi, Gaurav Gautam, Arti Singh Rao, and Rajesh Nagar also took oath as ministers.

After replacing former CM Manohar Lal Khattar as Chief Minister, Saini steered the BJP to a historic victory in the Haryana Assembly elections. The BJP won 48 seats in the 90-member house, ensuring its third straight term in power in the state.

The Dalit leader, who contested and won the Ladwa seat in Kurukshetra district, was unanimously elected the BJP’s legislature party leader in Haryana on Wednesday. The BJP leader then met Governor Bandaru Dattatreya and staked a claim to form the next government in the state.

Nayab Saini, the BJP’s prominent OBC face in Haryana, previously served as the Lok Sabha MP from Kurukshetra. He made his electoral debut in 2010 but won his first Assembly seat in 2014 from Narayangarh, joining the Khattar Cabinet. Later in October 2023, he was appointed Haryana BJP chief.

In yet another major jolt to Congress after the Haryana Assembly election injury, Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, denied the grand old party’s seat-sharing request for the by-election to 10 Assembly seats. The Samajwadi Party is a key member of the INDIA bloc.  

The Congress sought five of ten seats in the by-election, which the Samajwadi Party declined, noting parties respective performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Samajwadi Party announced candidates for six of the 10 Uttar Pradesh assembly seats where by-polls are due later this year. The Election Commission is yet to declare the date. 

Akhilesh Yadav led party has fielded Tej Pratap Yadav from Karhal, Naseem Solanki from the Sisamu seat, Mustafa Siddiqui from Phulpur (Prayagraj), and Ajit Prasad from Milkipur (Ayodhya), according to the party’s list issued on social media platform X. Shobhawai Verma and Jyodi Bind have been given party tickets from Katehari and Majhwan seats.

Reacting to the same, Samajwadi Party leader Ravidas Mehrotra slammed Congress, stating that they did not give a single seat to them in the Haryana election, but gave the entire state to BJP. He added that if Congress had an alliance with Samajwadi Party and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), then the INDIA bloc would have been in power in the state. He asserted that they want to defeat BJP in the Uttar by-election, hence they have announced the list of 6 candidates. However, he clarified that his party is hopeful to form an alliance with Congress in the remaining 4 seats. 

Expressing surprise over the sudden announcement by Samajwadi Party, UP Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey said that no information was given to them on this. He added that there has been no discussion with the coordination committee of the INDIA bloc yet. He mentioned that as far as the announcement of seats and contesting elections is concerned, whatever decision the Coordination Committee of INDIA alliance takes, it will be accepted by the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee. He remarked that possibilities of alliance always remain till the end. 

Meanwhile, the BJP in its third consecutive victory in Haryana, achieved its best performance, winning 48 seats, 11 more than the Congress.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday took a swipe at rebels and said no traitors will be given entry into the party after they turn jobless in one-and-half months after the Maharashtra Assembly elections likely to be held in November.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde led a rebellion against Thackeray in June 2022, resulting in a split in Shiv Sena and causing the Maha Vikas Aghadi government to fall. Since then, Thackeray and the Shiv Sena (UBT) have routinely referred to Shinde and his band of rebels as traitors.

Addressing a job fair organised by his party, Thackeray claimed the people of the state will show the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena its place in the Assembly polls. “After one-and-half months, these traitors (MLAs, MPs who rebelled against the party) will come to us for jobs because they will be jobless. I am not going to give a job to any traitor after the polls,” Thackeray said.

“There was no employment for the Marathi community in Mumbai. Then Balasaheb founded Shiv Sena. He used to say that you should be a job giver and not a job taker. Today I say one more thing all the traitors will not be given any employment in our government,” Thackeray said.

In a further swipe at the Shinde government, the former Chief Minister also said his party, after coming to power, will take account of the loot of state resources.

In light of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Maharashtra, Thackeray stated that whenever the former lays the foundation stone of a project, it never gets completed. Thackeray also claimed that no major projects have started in Maharashtra since his government was toppled in 2022 due to instability in the state.

Thackeray also took a swipe at his former ally, stating, “Our Hindutva is the one that helps burn the cooking gas, while the BJP’s Hindutva is the one that burns down the house.”