Why can't Modi let go of Khattar?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s support for Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has remained unflinching despite his administrative record leaving everyone red in the face.

Through a lot of crises that Khattar has waded through, many BJP leaders have wondered why the prime minister has stuck with him.

Even during the present crisis, Modi has decided, in consultation with party chief Amit Shah, that Khattar must not be replaced immediately though his exit in the future is not ruled out.

Incidentally, Shah is no admirer of Khattar’s political skills. However, it is not the first time that Khattar has faced such criticism.

His government has been slammed for mishandling the Jat agitation in 2016 and the violence at Sant Rampal’s ashram in Hissar in 2014, as soon as he became the chief minister.

Modi’s support for Khattar has remained steadfast throughout. Khattar’s tenure as chief minister has seen his Cabinet colleagues question him often and many BJP leaders raise doubts about his political ability to handle a crisis. But Khattar has managed to plough on.

Like Modi, Khattar did not have any legislative or administrative experience before he became the chief minister. Also, like Modi, Khattar contested the Assembly elections for the first time from in Karnal and went on to become the chief minister.

When Modi chose Khattar after the BJP came to power in Haryana for the first time, it was supposedly intended to keep other claimants - Captain Abhimanyu, Krishanpal Gurjar and Ram Bilas Sharma - at bay and also to help consolidate non-Jats votes.

Khattar, who belongs to the Punjabi community in the Jat-dominated politics of Haryana, became the first non-Jat chief minister in 18 years. His family migrated from Pakistan and settled in Rohtak after Partition.

Many BJP leaders, however, thought that it was the result of a friendship that got cemented over the decades.

When Modi was made BJP in-charge of Haryana in 1996 (after he was asked to stay away from Gujarat), Khattar was RSS organising secretary looking after the state. They have shared room and meals.