Demand of JJP leaders over Lok Sabha polls seat allocation may have led to collapse of alliance: Former Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar

Manohar Lal Khattar said, "The demand of the JJP leaders over the Lok Sabha polls seat allocation may have led to the collapse of the alliance. The 10 seats in the state were won by the BJP. The JJP leaders must have talked to the central leadership. There is nothing official but they (JJP) have decided that they will fight the Lok Sabha seats separately and accordingly the decisions have been made."

He further said that it was the tradition of the BJP that from time to time the party keeps bringing new faces forward to lead the government.

"It is the tradition of BJP that from time to time we promote new faces. This trend was already seen in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. This decision has been taken by the Parliamentary board ahead of the Lok Sabha polls that BJP MP and president Nayab Singh Saini will be the new CM face and I am happy with the decision. Naib Singh Saini is my old friend. This decision was taken in the legislative party meeting," he said.

He further said that the central leadership has decided on some other responsibility from him.

"What that responsibility will be, will be known in the coming times. Whatever the parliamentary board decides I am willing to follow it," he said.

BJP leader Nayab Singh Saini took oath as the Haryana Chief Minister on Tuesday at a swearing-in ceremony in Raj Bhawan, Chandigarh.

Four BJP leaders Kanwar Pal Gujjar, Jai Parkash Dalal, Moolchand Sharma, and Banwari Lal took oath as minister in the Haryana cabinet.

Also, one independent MLA Ranjit Singh was administered oath by Governor Bandaru Dattatreya. Former Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar was also present.

Nayab Singh Saini, the Lok Sabha MP from Haryana's Kurukshetra, met Governor Bandaru Dattatreya on Tuesday to formally stake claim to form the government in the state, replacing his predecessor, senior BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar.

An influential figure within the OBC, or Other Backward Classes, community, Nayab Saini is the BJP's Lok Sabha MP from Kurukshetra and was appointed the party's state boss in October last year. He is also a close confidante of Khattar, whose second (consecutive) term ends this year.

Kurukshetra MP Nayab Singh Saini was appointed Haryana BJP state president in October last year. Nayab Singh Saini won the Kurukshetra constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by more than 3.83 lakh votes over his nearest challenger, Nirmal Singh of the Indian National Congress (INC).In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won all 10 parliamentary seats while JJP, which had contested the elections in alliance with AAP, could not put up a fight on 7 seats it contested.

The BJP has 41 MLAs in the 90-member House, in which the majority mark is set at 46.

Earlier, CM Khattar on Tuesday resigned from the state Chief Minister hours after the BJP alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) broke. The JJP led by Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala had 10 MLAs in the Haryana Assembly. Manohar Lal Khattar submitted his resignation letter to Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya. (ANI)