7 similarities between Narendra Modi and Manohar Lal Khattar

The new chief minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar is known to be a close friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In fact, there are quite a few similarities between the two BJP leaders. Here are seven of them.

1. Narendra Modi did not have any legislative or administrative experience before he became the chief minister. He was appointed the chief minister and then was elected MLA from Maninagar. Similarly, Khattar contested the Assembly elections for the first time from Karnal and won the seat. Now, he has been appointed the chief minister.

2. Modi began his public life with RSS, and he was a pracharak for a long time. Khattar too was the Sangh's pracharak. He joined RSS in 1977 at the age of 24 and became a full-time pracharak in 1980.

3. Both leaders have led a more or less celibate life. Modi married once, but did not experience much of married life. Khattar has chosen to remain an unmarried bachelor.

4. Khattar's father Harbans Lal Khattar was a shopkeeper. Modi's father also ran a tea shop.

5. Modi was transferred after he impressed as an RSS worker. Khattar too was given his first responsibility in the Sangh after working for the RSS for 14 years.

6. Narendra Modi was the organisation minister of BJP during its initial days. Khattar was BJP's organisational secretary in Haryana from 2000-2004.

7. Modi's appointment as a CM did not go down well with the local Gujarat leaders. The approval from BJP's high-command (read LK Advani) put Modi in power. Similarly, Khattar is perceived as a person from non-influential, minority Punjabi community and an outsider from Karnal. But the BJP's top leadership (read Modi and Amit Shah) have given him the approval over Krishanpal Gurjar, Captain Abhimanyu and Ram Bilas Sharma.