A tea seller to chief minister, Khattar has seen it all

NEW DELHI:

It seems to be the season to crown erstwhile tea sellers. First it was Narendra Modi, who sold tea as a child, to become the prime minister and now it is turn of his close associate Manohar Lal Khattar, who also sold tea as a youth to become the Haryana chief minister.

Born in a Punjabi refugee family in Rohtak district on May 5, 1954, Khattar has many similarities with Modi and has worked with him closely. He is unmarried and comes from a humble background. The small patch of land that he tilled in his village was insufficient to sustain the family. This forced him to shift his base to Delhi without knowing it would become the turning point of his life.

Khattar set up a tea stall at Rani Bagh in West Delhi in 1974 and came in contact with workers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), leading to his joining the RSS as a full-time worker. Like Modi himself, RSS sent him to work in its political front Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1994 where he was appointed organisational secretary of the Haryana unit and met Modi who was already in-charge for Haryana. A long association started then and there with none knowing then that 20 years down the lane they would be occupying such high constitutional posts.

Like a dedicated worker, Khattar started plotting BJP’s rise in Haryana. He was instrumental in BJP getting into alliance with Bansi Lal, who had broken away from the Congress party to float own political outfit Haryana Vikas Party. The two parties contested the 1996 Haryana assembly elections together and emerged victorious. BJP became the junior partner in the government. When Modi was appointed in-charge for Himachal Pradesh, Khattar became his deputy. He went to Varanasi to ensure Modi had an easy ride when he decided to contest Lok Sabha polls from there and worked tirelessly in his home state Haryana as campaign committee chairman, helping BJP win 7 out of 10 Lok Sabha seats of Haryana in summer general elections.

It was time for the BJP to pay back a dedicated and selfless worker. The party asked him to contest elections for the first time ever from Karnal assembly constituency where he had to face some resistance from local party workers who opposed his selection saying he was an outsider. But in the end he emerged victorious with a huge margin.

BJP decision to opt for a non-Jat as new chief minister of Haryana tilted the balance in his favour and close association with RSS and Modi came handy.

Interestingly, Haryana is known as a land of Lals. Devi Lal, Bansi Lal and Bhajan Lal served as chief ministers in the past. Manohar Lal Khattar joins the illustrious list of Lals hoping he becomes as iconic figure in the state politics as the other three Lals.