By winning Delhi after Haryana, BJP duo of Nayab Singh Saini and mentor Manohar Lal Khattar stamp their authority

Chandigarh: Celebrations of BJP's victory in Delhi assembly elections on Saturday extended beyond the national capital, delivering a morale booster to the saffron party's Haryana leadership too.
For nearly a month, Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, his cabinet, former ministers, and BJP MLAs, were deeply involved in the party's Delhi campaign.Leading the charge was former CM and Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar, the party's chief strategist for Delhi. The BJP in Haryana virtually turned the election into a "Haryana versus Delhi" battle.
The election became a direct face-off between Delhi and Haryana, fuelled by dramatic theatrics by AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Saini. In response to Kejriwal's accusation that Haryana was sending polluted water to Delhi, Saini staged a spectacle by taking a sip of Yamuna water to prove its purity. This stunt triggered political drama, with BJP collecting water samples from the Yamuna, followed by senior AAP leaders staging protests in Delhi, using the same water as a symbol of their resistance.
Haryana BJP leaders were also roped in to manage several constituencies for party nominees in Delhi, based on their "recent successful" mission in Haryana, where the party surprised everyone by forming the govt for the third time in Oct last year.
Even most statements issued by the Haryana CM and his ministers were dominated by the assembly elections, mostly targeting Kejriwal for being "unfaithful" to his home state. Kejriwal is a native of Siwani area in Haryana's Bhiwani district.
Two cases were also filed in Haryana against Kejriwal. In one case, Kejriwal was summoned by a Sonipat court on Jan 29 after the disaster management authority in Haryana filed a complaint over his statements on Yamuna water from Haryana. Then an FIR was registered against him in Ambala on Feb 1 on the same issue. It was perhaps the first time that a senior leader of a party was booked in another state over statements made during a poll campaign.
The result was not only a booster for Saini, who for the first time was seen being vocal, but also for Khattar, who was running the affairs in the contest. He roped in all BJP MPs, who held press conferences to target Kejriwal for his Yamuna water campaign against Haryana. Prior to Delhi polls, Haryana was involved in political affairs of another state when in Feb 2024 some Congress rebel MLAs were sheltered in Panchkula in a bid to topple the Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress govt in Himachal Pradesh. That attempt failed.
Saini thanks people of Delhi
Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on Saturday expressed gratitude to the people of Delhi for giving a clear mandate to the BJP. He said the people endorsed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and guarantees of social welfare. He promised the BJP would restore Delhi's honour and glory.
"This election stands as a testament to the public's trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's competent and visionary leadership," said Saini.
Taking a dig at AAP, the Haryana CM said the people of Delhi rejected AAP's misguided policies and reposed their faith in BJP's welfare-oriented policies. He claimed that the people of Delhi were now prioritising development and national interest. "The public recognised and rejected the politics of appeasement and false promises that misled them for years," he said.
The CM said the people of Delhi now stood firmly with the PM's policies and BJP's style of governance. Saini said the formation of a BJP govt in Delhi would ensure all central govt schemes reached the public with transparency.