Manohar Lal Khattar was the CM of Haryana for about 9 and a half years. He resigned from the post of CM just before the Lok Sabha elections and then left the MLA post and contested the Lok Sabha elections from Karnal. The party made Naib Singh Saini, who is said to be his disciple, the Chief Minister of Haryana. Even though CM Naib Singh Saini has been in power for only 6 months, he is dominating the election campaign. On the other hand, the BJP is keeping Manohar Lal Khattar away from posters, banners and big rallies. PM Narendra Modi has held two big rallies in Haryana so far, in which former CM Manohar Lal Khattar was not seen.
Keeping Khattar, who has been the CM for almost a decade, away from campaigning is not a coincidence. This is being seen as a strategy. BJP sources say that there is deep resentment in many circles against Manohar Lal Khattar. In such a situation, he is being kept away from the stage and posters of rallies so that people’s attention can be attracted towards Saini and PM Narendra Modi instead of Khattar. This situation is also seen in Assandh of Karnal, which is called Manohar Lal Khattar’s stronghold. Recently, UP CM Yogi Adityanath had a rally here, in which Manohar Lal Khattar did not get a place in the banner behind.
Interestingly, Manohar Lal Khattar is the leader who talked about appointment without expenditure and without slips in jobs in Haryana. He promoted recruitment on the basis of merit. Even after this, many reasons are being given for keeping distance from Khattar. One reason is that he is a Punjabi face and his popularity is very low in Jat dominated areas. Therefore, Manohar Lal Khattar is being kept away especially from Panipat, Sonipat, Jhajjar, Rohtak etc. At the same time, Manohar Lal Khattar’s image could not be made very good among the farmer communities in 10 years of rule. Therefore, Khattar is being kept away from the scene in other parts of the state as well.
On the other hand, Congress has started making it an issue. Congress says that if BJP is so proud of Manohar Lal Khattar’s rule, then why is Manohar Lal Khattar missing from the posters. BJP’s answer to this is that Manohar Lal Khattar is now a Union Minister. Other leaders from the state are also Union Ministers. If Khattar is given a place in the posters, then such demands will arise for other leaders as well. Perhaps that is why Manohar Lal Khattar was also not included in the posters. Instead, the entire focus is on the central leadership and the state leadership.
