BJP effecting changes in Haryana

Bhartiya Janata Party President Amit Shah has kicked off the process of changes in the BJP-ruled states ahead of the BJP’s national executive in Bhubaneshwar from April 15 to put an end to complaints of the inner tussles.

Haryana appears to be the first state where the changes in the form of a ministerial reshuffle are in the pipeline as all top leaders of the state, including Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, were in the party headquarters here on Monday for audience with Shah.

The party sources said leaders of other states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh would also be called here in the next one week as Amit Shah wants to understand the political situation in these states due for the Assembly polls the next year end as part of the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

Indications are that Khattar may be asked to appoint a Jat leader as a deputy chief minister to assuage the feelings of the community creating problems to his government. Names of state BJP president Subhash Barala, cabinet minister Anil Vij and finance minister Capt. Abhimanyu are in circulation to be elevated as the deputy chief minister.

Haryana is a Jat-dominated state and hence anointment of Khattar, a Punjabi Khatri, has been protested since he was picked up as the chief minister.

The party sources say the BJP President may also shift a trouble-making leader to the central office as a posse of posts of vice-presidents, general secretaries and secretaries are lying vacant and which are likely to be filled up before the national executive.