From a cloth merchant to Harayana's first BJP chief minister, Manohar Lal Khattar has come a long way. Born of May 5, 1954, ML Khattar is serving as the 10th and current chief minister of Haryana. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a former RSS pracharak.
He was sworn in for the first time as CM of Haryana on 26 October 2014 after BJP's win in the 2014 Haryana Legislative Assembly election. He was sworn in a second time as the chief minister on 27 October 2019 after making an alliance with Jannayak Janta Party post-2019 Haryana Legislative Assembly election with Dushyant Chautala as his deputy chief minister.
Khattar was born in Nindana village of Meham tehsil in Rohtak district of Haryana, in a Punjabi Hindu family. His father, Harbans Lal Khattar, had migrated to the village from Jhang district of West Punjab following the Partition of India in 1947. His family initially settled in the Banyani village of Rohtak district and took up farming.
Khattar completed his matriculation (final year of high school) from Pandit Neki Ram Sharma Government College, Rohtak. He then moved to Delhi, and ran a shop near Sadar Bazar while completing his bachelor's degree from University of Delhi.
During 2000-2014, Khattar was Organizational General Secretary of the BJP in Haryana, during his tenure the state unit was also started a publication of Bhajpa Ki Baat magazine in October 2000. He was the Chairman of BJP's Haryana Election Campaign Committee for 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. Subsequently, he became a member of BJP's National Executive Committee.
In 2014, Khattar was nominated as BJP's candidate from Karnal constituency for the Haryana Legislative Assembly election, 2014. In the elections, the BJP gained a majority in Haryana for the first time, and Khattar won his maiden election by a margin of 63,736 votes.
Major initiatives by Manohar Lal Khattar:
Police reforms:
Khattar announced that Haryana will have an all-woman police station in each district and around 500 woman constables will be recruited. He also started a 24×7 portal called Harsamay through which anybody can file a complaint online.
He has also suggested that Yoga to be a part of police constables training to help keep the police personnel mentally and physically fit.
E-governance:
Manohar Lal Khattar has introduced e-services through Common Service Centres including biometric attendance system in all the government offices through which attendance of all officers will be available online and monitored.
Construction of memorial:
Manohar Lal Khattar has publicly declared that his government will build a memorial to mark the sacrifice of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Pathankot.
