2025, Vol. 7, Issue 11, Part C

Author(s): Heena Dhariwal

Abstract: This study examines leadership styles among Haryana’s Chief Ministers (CMs) from 1990 to 2020 and explores how these styles relate to tenure stability, political volatility and the framing of development in public communication. Drawing on full-range, charismatic and adaptive leadership frameworks, the analysis focuses on five key incumbents Bhajan Lal, Bansi Lal, Om Prakash Chautala, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Manohar Lal Khattar who together shaped the state’s political trajectory in the post-liberalisation era. Using a qualitative comparative case-study design, the research analyses 3, 264 coded text segments from legislative speeches, budget and confidence motions, party manifestos, key interviews, biographical materials and media coverage. Text segments were coded into four leadership-style categories (transformational, transactional, charismatic-populist, technocratic-managerial), with substantial intercoder reliability. Descriptive statistics, composite style indices and simple correlations were used to relate style profiles to tenure length, a volatility index and the share of development-oriented framing. The findings reveal distinct style “signatures”: Bhajan Lal and Chautala exhibit higher transactional and charismatic-populist composites, while Hooda and Khattar display stronger transformational and technocratic-managerial orientations, with Bansi Lal occupying a hybrid position. Higher transformational composites are associated with longer tenures and a greater proportion of development-oriented framing, whereas greater transactional-populist emphasis corresponds to higher political volatility and lower developmental focus. A temporal comparison between pre-2014 and post-2014 periods indicates a significant shift towards transformational and technocratic-managerial cues after the rise of BJP-led governance. The study argues that leadership style at the state level is a relational construct shaped by party ideology, caste and coalition structures and institutional context, and it highlights the importance of cultivating transformational yet context-sensitive leadership for stable and development-oriented governance in Indian states.

DOI: 10.22271/multi.2025.v7.i11c.845

Pages: 189-195 | Views: 94 | Downloads: 51

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