New Delhi, May 4 (IANS). Manohar Lal, born in an ordinary family on 5 May 1954, is a leader with an important and distinct identity in the politics of Haryana and the country. He covered a long distance from organization to governance. His political career has been focused on discipline, organizational experience and administrative reforms. Manohar Lal contested elections for the first time and assumed the post of Chief Minister.
He was born in a Punjabi Hindu family in Nindana village in Meham tehsil of Rohtak district in East Punjab (present-day Haryana), which later joined Karnal district. Manohar Lal’s father Harbans Lal had come and settled in this village from Jhang district of Western Punjab after the partition of India in 1947. Manohar Lal Khattar’s early life was spent in a rural environment, from where he adopted the values of hard work and simplicity.
After completing his matriculation (high school) from Pandit Neki Ram Sharma Government College, Rohtak, Manohar Lal started living with relatives in Delhi and running a clothing shop near Sadar Bazaar. Along with this, he also completed his bachelor’s degree from Delhi University.
Manohar Lal joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1977 and became a full-time pracharak three years later. Worked as a full-time campaigner for 17 years before joining BJP in 1994. During this time he acquired organizational skills and experience of working at the grassroots level. This experience later became the basis of his political identity. Later he played an active role in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and held many important responsibilities in the organization. He was one of the leaders who played a major role in strengthening the organizational structure of Haryana BJP.
In 2014, Manohar Lal was nominated as the BJP candidate from Karnal constituency for the Haryana Assembly elections. In these elections, BJP won majority for the first time in Haryana and won its first election by a margin of 63,736 votes. In the year 2014, Manohar Lal became the Chief Minister of Haryana. This was historic in many ways, as he was the first non-Jat Chief Minister of the state. He led the state from 2014 to 2024 and implemented several administrative and policy changes during this period.
On 27 October 2019, Manohar was sworn in as Chief Minister for the second time after forming an alliance with Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party following the 2019 Haryana Assembly elections. However, he did not complete his tenure and resigned before the Lok Sabha elections. Khattar submitted his resignation to Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya on 12 March 2024.
After this, he won the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as a BJP candidate from Karnal. In June 2024, Manohar Lal was made the Minister of Power and Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs. Recently he visited Bhutan as Union Power Minister and met the Energy Minister there to strengthen bilateral energy cooperation and reviewed the progress of the developed Punatsangchu Hydroelectric Projects. Manohar Lal’s image has been that of a simple and disciplined leader. They often practice low-profile politics and believe in strengthening the organizational structure. In their working style, the decision making process is considered relatively calm and systematic.
–IANS
OP/DKP