CHANDIGARH: Haryana CM-designate Manohar Lal Khattar, who is a bachelor, was born to a Punjabi shopkeeper. A low- profile BJP and RSS leader, Khattar is known for his quiet work on the field and in the saffron party he has earned the reputation of a tough taskmaster with a no-nonsense approach. After Partition, his family arrived at Nindana village in Haryana’s Rohta. Then to eke out a living his grandfather and father worked as labourers and after some time opened a small shop in the village. His father later bought agricultural land and took to farming.
Khattar, who was the first from his family to clear the Class X exams, had enrolled at Rohtak’s Neki Ram Sharma Government College before pursuing his higher education at the University of Delhi.
A keen student and debater, Khattar was the eldest son in the family he wanted to pursue a medical degree. He went to Delhi and opened a small shop in Sadar Bazar, after borrowing money from his father. While running his shop he completed his graduation from Delhi University and helped establish his siblings, as he got his sister married. In Chhattisgarh he worked in Bastar, which was a traditionally Congress stronghold, and then the saffron party won 10 out of 12 seats from there. He was chairman of BJP’s Haryana Election Committee for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He also remained Regional Sangathan Mahamantri for five states -- Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh. He played the role of a master strategist and successfully led many electoral campaigns for the party. However, Khattar lacks administrative experience.