Chandigarh: Hours after resignation as Haryana Chief Minister along with his cabinet colleagues, senior BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar Tuesday hinted that he may be fielded by the saffron party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Manohar Lal Khattar, who has been Haryana CM for two terms, said he has come to know that the JJP has decided to contest the coming Lok Sabha polls separately.
Speaking to the media, Khattar said the party leadership has told him that another responsibility will be given.
“It may be decided soon. Maybe it is about Lok Sabha polls. I think it is possible…whatever the parliamentary board (of BJP) decides, I will abide by it,” he said.
There are speculations that Khattar may be asked to contest from Karnal Lok Sabha seat.
Earlier in the day, Khattar and all 13 other members of the BJP-led council of ministers submitted their resignations to the Haryana governor as a team of the party’s central observers arrived in Chandigarh.
The switch in Haryana came amid the ruling BJP-JJP coalition coming apart, though party leaders from both sides did not make immediate comment.
The BJP replaced Khattar with OBC leader Nayab Singh Saini who was later sworn in as Haryana’s new chief minister.
Khattar said that it was a matter of happiness that youth face Saini, an MP from Kurukshetra, was made the CM. He said Saini is his old friend.
Replying to a question, Khattar spoke about the JJP’s demand for the Lok Sabha seats for the upcoming polls.
He said BJP’s target is to fight all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana and give them to “Modi ji’s kitty”.
The JJP must have spoken to the BJP’s central leadership over this issue, he said, adding he has come to know that the JJP has decided to contest the Lok Sabha polls separately.
To another question, Khattar said it has been a tradition of the BJP to bring new leadership forward from time to time.
He also referred to the appointment of new chief ministers in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
“As the Lok Sabha elections are near, the parliamentary board decided to bring new leadership and Saini was chosen as the new leader. I am happy that new leadership has come,” he said.
Asked that Tuesday’s developments came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised him at an event in Gurugram, Khattar said he has old relations with the PM and that his appreciation has no connection with it.
Khattar said sometime back, he himself had said that if any new leadership is to be brought in then it had to be done on time.
To a question on the expansion of Saini cabinet, Khattar stated that it will soon take place.
