Khattar joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1977, and became a full-time pracharak three years later. As a pracharak, he is a lifelong bachelor. He worked as a full-time pracharak for 14 years before moving to BJP, in 1994. During 2000–2014, Khattar was Organizational General Secretary of the BJP in Haryana. He was the Chairman of BJP's Haryana Election Campaign Committee for 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. Subsequently, he became a member of BJP's National Executive Committee. In 2014, Khattar was nominated as BJP's candidate from Karnal constituency for the Haryana Legislative Assembly election, 2014. The party's workers and supporters in Karnal launched a signature campaign, asking the party leadership to field a local candidate instead of him. His opponent, the Indian National Congress candidate and Deepender Singh Hooda, accused Khattar of being an "outsider" not native to Karnal. But Modi wave helped Mr. Khatter win elections by heavy margin. In the elections, the BJP gained a majority in Haryana for the first time, and Khattar won his maiden election by a margin of 63,736 votes. During a party meeting, his name was proposed for the Chief Minister of Haryana post by Haryana BJP President Ram Bilas Sharma, seconded by other strong Chief Minister of Haryana claimant Rao Inderjeet Singh and supported by many MLAs. He became the BJP's first Chief Minister of Haryana after his swearing-in ceremony on 26 October 2014. On 27 October 2019, Khattar was sworn-in as the Chief Minister for the second time, after making an alliance with Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janta Party post 2019 Haryana Legislative Assembly election.
Major initiatives
Police reforms
Khattar announced that Haryana will have an all-woman police station in each district and around 500 woman constables will be recruited. He also started a 24×7 portal called Harsamay through which anybody can file a complaint online. He has also suggested that Yoga to be a part of police constables training to help keep the police personnel mentally and physically fit. According to media reports, Khattar has said that Police recruitments would be made on Transparent Recruitment Policy and 3,060 new houses would be constructed for police personnel at a cost of Rs 550 crore in next three years.
E-governance
Manohar Lal Khattar has introduced e-services through Common Service Centres including biometric attendance system in all the government offices through which attendance of all officers will be available online and monitored.
Women's empowerment
Manohar Lal Khattar's Government has been in news for taking steps to implement Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana scheme that was flagged off by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The child gender ratio has been improved in Haryana since he assumed power. It is now 889 girls per 1,000 boys. "Efforts are being made to further take it to above 900," Khattar has said in a public statement.
Construction of memorial
Manohar Lal Khattar has publicly declared that his government will build a memorial to mark the sacrifice of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Pathankot.
Controversies
Manohar Lal Khattar is criticised for his remarks on rape and women issues. During his election campaign for 2014 polls in India, he said: "If they want freedom, why don't they just roam around naked? Freedom has to be limited." Likewise, on 16 November 2018, he has stated, "The biggest concern is that in 80-90% of rapes and eve-teasing cases, the accused and the victim know each other. In many cases, they know each other for a long time, and on one day, when there is an argument,... an FIR is lodged, saying that this person has raped me." This evoked strong condemnation from the opposition.
