After the formation of the new BJP government in Haryana on March 12, many major changes have been witnessed in the state politics. After the two time former Chief Minister Manohar Lal was replaced by Nayab Singh Saini, four BJP MLAs and one independent were administered oath as new cabinet ministers. After this, on 19 March, 8 MLAs were sworn in as ministers. Kamal Gupta, who was a minister last time too, has been made a cabinet minister, while the remaining 7 were sworn in as ministers of state with independent charge.
Following the constitution of the new BJP government, it is clearly evident that the caste equations have been taken into consideration while expanding the cabinet in its second phase on Tuesday. In view of the upcoming elections, the BJP high command and the state leadership came up with a mutual understanding while forming the cabinet in terms of caste factor. In such a situation, it is clear from the formation of the cabinet that the BJP government in Haryana has given complete importance to caste equations to avoid possible displeasure of voters of any category.
It is pertinent to mention that a maximum of 14 ministers including 10 cabinet and 4 ministers of state can be given berth in the state cabinet, since along with CM, six ministers have been given berths in the state cabinet in swearing in ceremony held on February 12 while the remaining lying vacant in the cabinet were filled on February 19. The BJP and the six independent MLAs who have extended support to the ruling saffron BJP, were eyeing the remaining post but they were disappointed as none of the independent MLA including including Gopal Kanda from Sirsa, Rakesh Daulatabad from Badshahpur, Ranjit Singh Chautala from Rania, Dharampal Gondar from Nilokheri, Randhir Golan from Pundri, Somveer Sangwan from Dadri and Nayanpal Rawat from Prithla have been appointed the cabinet ministers.
Nayab Singh Saini, who holds the portfolio of the state BJP president, was sworn in as Haryana’s new Chief Minister on March 12 after Manohar Lal Manohar Lal and his cabinet resigned. Notably, it is pertinent to mention that Apart from the CM, four Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) stalwarts BJP stalwarts Kanwar Pal, Dr. Banwari Lal, JP Dalal, Moolchand Sharma and Ranjeet Singh Chautala, an independent MLA has been given berths in the state cabinet in swearing in ceremony program held at Haryana Raj Bhawan. Nayab Singh Saini was administered oath by Haryana governor Bandaru Dattatrey during a ceremony held at the Raj Bhawan.
In order to strike a balance in terms of caste factor, 6 ministers from Jat community and OBC community, 3 each, 2 from SC community, 2 from Bania community, 2 from Punjabi, 1 from Rajput community and 1 from Brahmin have been given berths in the Haryana cabinet. The Jat cabinet ministers includes Ranjeet Singh, JP Dalal and Mahipal Dhanda while the three of the ministers including Nayab Saini, Kanwar Pal Gurjar and Abhay Singh Yadav who hail from the OBC community have been inducted in the cabinet. Similarly, Dr Banwari Lal and Bishbhar Balmili hail from SC community. Like wise Subhash Sudha and Seema Trikha come from Punjabi community. Further in this series, among the newly appointed MLAs, Aseem Goyal and Kamal Gupta hail from Baniya community while Moolchand Sharma and Sanjay SIngh from Brahmin and Rajput community respectively.
The state’s caste dynamics are intricate, with three major communities – Jats, Scheduled Castes (SCs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). It is noteworthy that non-Jat and OBC communities constitute a sizable chunk of vote bank as well as population in Haryana forcing all political parties to focus on the votes belonging to non-jat communities. The data revealed that people from SC and BC category in Haryana constitute about 51 percent of the total vote population.
Based on the data of Pariwar Pahchan Patra (PPP), out of the total verified 68 lakh families and 2.83 crore people in Haryana, the number of people from BC (A) and BC (B) category families is 4793312 and 3797306 constituting 16.93 percent and 13.41 percent respectively. Likewise, there are a total of 1368365 families of SC category in Haryana which represent 20.71 percent of the total families. It is pertinent to mention that at the same time, the Jats constitute the maximum number of voters in the states. Haryana, often hailed as the heartland of the Jat community, has a unique political landscape shaped by regional dynamics and influential voter segments, particularly the Jat community, constituting a substantial around 30 percent voters. .
The impact of Jat voters in deciding the electoral fortunes of parties in Haryana, especially during Lok Sabha polls, holds significance. The agrarian Jat community wields considerable political influence, prompting regional parties to strategically field Jat candidates to appeal to this influential group. Jat concentration spans across the state, with strongholds in constituencies like Sonipat and Rohtak. Any party trying to form a government in a 90 seats assembly is required to have the support of 46 MLAs. In the 90 member Haryana assembly, the BJP has 42 MLAs, Congress 30 and JJP 10 while 7 are independents. Apart from these, 2 MLAs are from Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP). Since JJP and BJP have now parted ways, BJP has formed the government with the support of 7 independent MLAs.
