A day after he stepped down as the chief minister of Haryana and soon after his successor Nayab Singh Saini won the confidence vote in the assembly on Wednesday afternoon, Manohar Lal Khattar announced that he was resigning from the Karnal assembly seat.

The BJP is likely to field Khattar from the Karnal Lok Sabha seat, party sources said.

CM Khattar, who represented Karnal in the assembly since 2014, said Saini will take care of the constituency. “During the past nine-and-a-half years, I have served as the leader of the House. I will serve the people of Haryana till my last breath,” Khattar said.

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Saini, a confidant of CM Khattar, on Wednesday praised his predecessor in the assembly for the works undertaken during his tenure as CM since 2014. Speaking in the House, Saini said he has learnt a lot from Khattar. He said that Haryana presented a good governance model in the entire country under Khattar’s leadership, adding several developmental works were undertaken by his dispensation. “I come from that family where I have seen hard life and Khattar too comes from a similar background,” he said.

He described Khattar as a “tapasvi”, who dedicated his life to serving the people of the state for two terms. Even the opposition has been saying that Khattar enjoys a clean image, he said.

Saini talked about the delivery of services at citizens’ doorsteps, particularly the poor beneficiaries.

He said that the BJP government in the state had brought transparency in the administration. He lauded Khattar for opening several portals for the benefit of citizens. “Manohar Lal is a ‘saint’ and he has given a lot to Haryana, strengthened it and it was his thinking that weaker sections and poor should get benefits at their doorsteps,” he said.

Saini said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme in 2015 and added the BJP government in the state took it as a pledge to ensure the success of the programme.

He touched upon other initiatives of the Khattar government for welfare of various sections. “Haryana is the first state to procure 14 crops at MSP,” said Saini.

The BJP named Saini as Haryana’s new chief minister on Tuesday, hours after the surprise resignation of Khattar along with his cabinet ministers.

After taking oath in the evening, Saini said that they had presented a letter of support of 48 MLAs to governor Bandaru Dattatreya and asked him to convene an assembly session on Wednesday for the BJP government to prove its majority in the House.