Three Haryana MPs appointed to Union cabinet

Three newly appointed MPs from Haryana, including former Chief Minister Manohar Lal, have secured positions in the Union Cabinet. Joining Lal are Rao Inderjeet Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjer, marking their inclusion in the Council of Ministers in the new Modi government. Notably, Manohar Lal emerged victorious from the Karnal constituency in the recent Lok Sabha elections, defeating Congress contestant Divyanshu Budhiraja by an impressive margin of 2,32,577 votes.

Manohar Lal, who served as Haryana’s Chief Minister for approximately a decade, was unexpectedly removed from his post in March of this year, with Nayab Singh Saini appointed as his successor. Political analysts speculate that with the upcoming assembly elections scheduled for October this year and considering the party’s recent underperformance, the inclusion of three MPs from Haryana aims to bolster political standing and court voters for the impending polls.

Rao Inderjeet Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjer, both from Haryana, had previously served in Modi-led governments in 2014 and 2019. Despite BJP’s sweeping victory in all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana in 2019, the party only secured five seats in the recent general elections. Singh and Gurjer were sworn in as Ministers of State (Independent Charge) in 2019.

Rao Inderjeet Singh has clinched his sixth term as an MP, albeit with a reduced margin of victory this time, securing 8.08 lakh votes, a significant decrease from his 3.86 lakh margin in 2019. Meanwhile, Krishan Pal Gurjer secured a hat-trick victory in the Faridabad constituency, outpacing his Congress rival Mahender Pratap Singh by approximately 1.7 lakh votes. In the 2019 elections, Gurjer defeated Avtar Singh Bhadana of the Congress Party by a substantial margin, solidifying his position as the MP for Faridabad.