Former RSS pracharak Manohar Lal Khattar, who will be the next chief minister of Haryana, is a master strategist known for his political acumen. Khattar was appointed chairman of the BJP’s Haryana election committee for the recent Lok Sabha elections.

Khattar joined the RSS in 1980, and has spent nearly 35 years as an active pracharak. He joined the BJP two decades ago. He was born in Haryana, and is a bachelor. In 1994, Khattar was made the Sangathan Mahamantri in Haryana.

In 1996, BJP had allied with Bansi Lal’s Haryana Vikas Party to form the government in the state. However, Khattar felt that the alliance was proving costly for the party, and favoured withdrawal of support from the government. BJP then decided to provide outside support to Om Prakash Chautala. Later, this coalition with the INLD won all 10 seats in Haryana in the 1999 parliamentary elections.

It was in 1996 that Khattar first began working with Narendra Modi, who was then in charge of Haryana. In 2002, Khattar was given charge of elections in J&K. In the aftermath of the Bhuj earthquake, Khattar was called upon to manage elections in Kutch district. BJP won three out of six seats there.

In 2004, Khattar found himself in charge of 12 states, including Delhi and Rajasthan. He then worked under the leadership of the veteran RSS ideologue Bal Apte, who was at the time heading the Chunaav Sahayak Yojna.

Immediately thereafter, Khattar was entrusted with the responsibility of Regional Sangathan Mahamantri for Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh. His tenure saw several successes for the party.

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