Manohar Lal Khattar takes oath as Haryana CM for second term, Dushyant Chautala sworn in as Deputy CM

CHANDIGARH: BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) chief Dushyant Chautala on Sunday afternoon took oath as the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana respectively at state Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh in the presence of BJP working president JP Nadda and other senior party leaders from both the parties.

Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal, his son and senior party leader Sukhbir Badal were present at the swearing-in ceremony. Congress's Bhupinder Hooda also attended the ceremony.

On Saturday, Haryana Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya had invited the BJP to form the next government in the state after the BJP staked claim to form the government with the support of the JJP. On Sunday, Khattar assumed office for the second consecutive term in alliance with the JJP, which emerged as the 'Kingmaker' following the verdict in Haryana state assembly election.

The BJP-led alliance has the support of 40 BJP MLAs, 10 JJP legislators as well as seven independent MLAs, Khattar said, meaning that he has the support of 57 members in a 90-member assembly.

BJP, which won 40 seats and was six short of a majority in the 90-member Assembly, announced an alliance with the JJP led by Dushyant Chautala, the great-grandson of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, on Friday evening.

For his first term, Khattar had taken oath on October 26, 2014, in a function attended by a spectrum of political leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, LK Advani, Amit Shah, Union Ministers and Chief Ministers of several BJP-ruled states, besides Akali Dal veteran Parkash Singh Badal.