<p>Manohar Lal Khattar took oath as the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Minister of Haryana in 48 years at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several chief ministers at Panchkula near here on Sunday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Khattar, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak, is considered a Narendra Modi loyalist. <br /><br />Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki administered the oath of office and secrecy to Khattar. Nine ministers, including three ministers of state with independent charge, also took oath. All cabinet leaders enjoy a clean and non-controversial image. <br /><br />Khattar, a 60-year-old bachelor, is the first non-Jat Punjabi chief minister in Haryana after a gap of 18 years. The choice of his cabinet is a mix of both Jat and non-Jat leaders. It also includes a woman.<br /><br />Top BJP leaders, including party chief Amit Shah, L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu and Navjot Singh Sidhu, attended the swearing-in ceremony. <br /><br />Chief Ministers Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), Anandiben Patel (Gujarat), Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh) and Manohar Parrikar (Goa), several leaders owing allegiance to the RSS, and religious leaders attended the ceremony. <br /><br />Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, whose party Akali Dal fought the Haryana Assembly elections against its own ally, the BJP, also attended the ceremony.<br /><br />MLA Prem Lata, wife of Birender Singh who severed four-decade ties with the Congress to join the BJP, did not find a slot in the first list of ministers. The event, normally held in state capital Chandigarh, was organised at Panchkula.<br /><br />The township was adorned with pictures of Modi. It was in Panchkula’s Sector 7 residential area that Modi spent several years as a party office-bearer in charge of Haryana. Modi and Khattar then worked together to build the party.<br /><br />Those inducted into Khattar’s cabinet include lawyer and state BJP president Ram Bilas Sharma; retired Army officer Capt Abhimanyu; retired banker Anil Vij, former geography lecturer O P Dhankar, two-time MLA from Sonepat Kavita Jain and agriculturist Rao Narbir Singh. Bikram Singh Thekedar, Krishan Kumar and Karan Dev Kamboj were made ministers of state. <br /><br />Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda did not attend the ceremony though he was invited.</p>
<p>Manohar Lal Khattar took oath as the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Minister of Haryana in 48 years at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several chief ministers at Panchkula near here on Sunday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Khattar, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak, is considered a Narendra Modi loyalist. <br /><br />Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki administered the oath of office and secrecy to Khattar. Nine ministers, including three ministers of state with independent charge, also took oath. All cabinet leaders enjoy a clean and non-controversial image. <br /><br />Khattar, a 60-year-old bachelor, is the first non-Jat Punjabi chief minister in Haryana after a gap of 18 years. The choice of his cabinet is a mix of both Jat and non-Jat leaders. It also includes a woman.<br /><br />Top BJP leaders, including party chief Amit Shah, L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu and Navjot Singh Sidhu, attended the swearing-in ceremony. <br /><br />Chief Ministers Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), Anandiben Patel (Gujarat), Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh) and Manohar Parrikar (Goa), several leaders owing allegiance to the RSS, and religious leaders attended the ceremony. <br /><br />Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, whose party Akali Dal fought the Haryana Assembly elections against its own ally, the BJP, also attended the ceremony.<br /><br />MLA Prem Lata, wife of Birender Singh who severed four-decade ties with the Congress to join the BJP, did not find a slot in the first list of ministers. The event, normally held in state capital Chandigarh, was organised at Panchkula.<br /><br />The township was adorned with pictures of Modi. It was in Panchkula’s Sector 7 residential area that Modi spent several years as a party office-bearer in charge of Haryana. Modi and Khattar then worked together to build the party.<br /><br />Those inducted into Khattar’s cabinet include lawyer and state BJP president Ram Bilas Sharma; retired Army officer Capt Abhimanyu; retired banker Anil Vij, former geography lecturer O P Dhankar, two-time MLA from Sonepat Kavita Jain and agriculturist Rao Narbir Singh. Bikram Singh Thekedar, Krishan Kumar and Karan Dev Kamboj were made ministers of state. <br /><br />Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda did not attend the ceremony though he was invited.</p>