A midnight knock at CM residence: Nayab Singh Saini bets on public outreach as BJP faces stern Haryana test

It was a knock at midnight from a group of men calling on the Chief Minister, not to draw his attention to some urgent matter but to check if he was indeed, as per his word, meeting people late into the night.

With almost three months left for the all-important Haryana Assembly elections, CM Nayab Singh Saini, singed by the BJP’s below-par performance in the Lok Sabha elections in which the party saw its tally halved, is leaving no stone unturned as he goes about ensuring that the BJP returns to power for a third straight term in the state. The CM has gone on a welfare overdrive since the parliamentary election results on June 4 and says he is meeting thousands of people every day.

Saini said his days start around 7 am and goes on till about 4 am as he meets government officials, party leaders, and the public through the night, catching a few winks of sleep. According to those close to him, his meetings from Thursday night went on till about 4 am the next morning. First, it was meeting the public and hearing their grievances and then came the meetings with BJP leaders.

“I meet nearly 6,000-7,000 people a day. As many four shifts have been scheduled to meet the people for every day if I am at the official residence,” said Saini. Recounting a recent incident he said a group of almost 10-15 people from Rohtak landed at his residence just to check whether he was actually meeting people at midnight as he had promised.

“I had made an open announcement that I would be available to meet people facing an emergency at 12 in the night too. One night, my staffers informed me at midnight that 10-15 people had come to meet me. I agreed to meet them and asked about the emergency that prompted them to visit me. They said, ‘There was no