Nayab Saini: The man of the moment in Haryana

Tuesday morning came as a surprise for many in Haryana. As the sun rose, the news of incumbent Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar resigning and the BJP ending its four-and-a-half-year-old alliance with Dushyant Chautala’s Jan nayak Janata Party started hitting the headlines. The picture became clear by afternoon when Manohar Lal Khattar and his cabinet submitted their resignations to Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya. A few hours later it was confirmed that BJP state president Nayab Singh Saini was elected the leader of BJP legislative party. This was confirmed in the legislators' meeting held under the supervision of a Central team of the BJP comprising of Union Minister Arjun Munda, Tarun Chugh and former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.

Nayab Singh Saini born on 25 January 1970 in Mirzapur Majra, a small village of Ambala in Haryana moved to Bihar to complete his graduation after his early education. After completing his graduation from Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Bihar, Saini came to Uttar Pradesh for further studies. Pursuing his interest in law, Saini came to Uttar Pradesh where he joined Chaudhary Charan Singh University in Meerut and completed his LLB degree.

Nayab Singh Saini’s journey under the saffron umbrella began in 1996 when he started working in the organizational framework of the Haryana BJP and worked alongside the state general secretary until 2000. As he rose through the ranks, in 2002 he assumed the role of the District General Secretary of the youth wing of the BJP in Ambala. After that, he was appointed as the District President in Ambala in 2005. 

Saini held several important positions within the party working with sincere devotion and commitment to the party's ideology even when the BJP was not such a big political force in Haryana. Saini became State General Secretary of the BJP Kisan Morcha in Haryana in 2009 and District President of the Ambala BJP in 2012.

Saini’s political career soared when he was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Narayangarh constituency in 2014, followed by his appointment as a Minister in the Haryana Government in 2016. Nayab Singh Saini who is considered a close confidante of Manohar Lal Khattar, defeated his nearest rival Nirmal Singh of Congress from the Kurukshetra constituency with a margin of over 3.83 lakh votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In October 2023, Saini reaching the zenith of his political career, was appointed as the State President of the BJP. And, a few months later, a sudden turn of events in the state made him the front-runner to be the Chief Minister of Haryana.  Nonetheless, the appointment of Nayab Singh Saini to the top post of the state ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and the end of BJP’s coalition with JJP has changed the direction of the state’s politics for now. Known as a committed party man, it will be interesting to see how Nayab Singh Saini will perform in his new role. It is believed that he belongs to the Manohar Lal School of Politics and is hoped to follow his work and line of thought. Of course, the work laid ahead of him is overwhelming but this is precisely where former CM's blessings and direction would come to help.