New Delhi: A day after the BJP registered an astounding hat-trick in Haryana Assembly polls, chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party top brass, including Union home minister Amit Shah and party president J.P. Nadda. The meetings come ahead of the swearing-in of the new government in the state.
The BJP won 48 of the total 90 Assembly seats and got a further boost on Wednesday when three Independent MLAs -- Savitri Jindal, Devender Kadyan and Rajesh Joon -- decided to extend their support to the party.
The BJP had indicated during the elections that Mr Saini, who replaced Manohar Lal Khattar in March and hails from the Other Backward Classes, will be its choice for the top post if it wins.
Mr Saini also met defence minister Rajnath Singh during the day.
Later interacting with the media, Mr Saini gave Mr Modi the credit for the BJP’s performance in the polls and said psephologists might have declared the Congress as the favourite to win the polls, but he always insisted that people will put their trust in the BJP due to its government's policies.
"The credit of this big win goes to the PM, who in the last 10 years brought such schemes that benefitted the poor, farmers, youth and women. These helped all sections of society. People love him and hence the BJP is coming to power for a third time,” said Mr Saini.
Replying to queries about the Congress raising doubts on EVMs, Mr Saini said the Opposition party has been building up a storm of lies.
The Prime Minister posted on X that he congratulated Mr Saini on the party's historic win and expressed confidence that the role of Haryana will become more important in the resolve of building "viksit Bharat".
Of the three Independent MLAs who extended support to the BJP, Mr Joon is a Congress rebel, Mr Kadyan fought as an Independent after the BJP denied him a ticket. Mr Kadyan fought from the Ganaur constituency in Sonipat and defeated his nearest Congress rival Kuldeep Sharma. Mr Joon won from the Bahadurgarh seat in the Jhajjar district, defeating his nearest BJP rival Dinesh Kaushik.
The Jindal Group chairperson emeritus, Ms Jindal, had earlier said she contested Hisar elections because of the wishes of the people. She fought as an Independent candidate from Hisar and won against her nearest Congress rival Ram Niwas Rara. BJP's Kamal Gupta, who was the sitting legislator and minister in the outgoing Saini Cabinet, ended up in the third spot.
