Sonia choice Hooda to be CM of Haryana

Chandigarh/New Delhi, Oct. 23: Most of the newly-elected Congress legislators, who met at the first post-poll meeting of the Congress Legislature Party in Chandigarh, want the incumbent Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to continue in office.

The legislators, who individually met Congress leaders, Mr Prithviraj Chavan, Ms Mohsina Kidwai and Mr B.K. Hari Prasad, the three AICC observers deputed by Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, are believed to have individually pressed for Mr Hooda during the three-hour meeting at the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on Friday evening.

“The legislators have conveyed their feelings to us and have all asked Mrs Gandhi to name the new Chief Minister,” Mr Chavan told reporters after the marathon meeting.

Meanwhile, highly placed sources told this newspaper that “the high command has decided to go with Mr Hooda, who is not only responsible for the historic return of the Congress (no party has retained power in Haryana since 1972) but also has the confidence of the new MLAs”.

“I am fully behind Hooda sahib and I believe each of the other elected MLAs have articulated identical sentiments,” said Mr Yashvir Kadyan, the Speaker of the outgoing Assembly. Each of the 40 Congress MLAs were separately called in to “freely express their views” during the late evening exercise.

Earlier on Friday, PCC chief, Mr Phul Chand Mulana met the Haryana Governor, Mr Jagannath Pahadia, to stake claim to form the new government after emerging the single largest party.

Mr Mulana also carried with him and conveyed signed letters from seven Independent legislators expressing their support for the Congress.

“These are all people who are in sync with the Congress party’s ideology and have freely decided to go with us,” Mr Mulana said, refuting former chief minister and INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala’s allegation that “the Congress was indulging in horse-trading to garner numbers”.

Moments before the state Congress chief arrived at the Haryana Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh, Mr Chautala also staked claim to form the new government. “The popular mandate is clearly against the ruling Congress . Opposition groups have won more than 50 seats,” he said in a letter demanding that governor Pahadia “must first invite the Opposition to form a coalition government”.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, a decision on electing a new Congress Legislature Party leader in Maharashtra is unlikely to be taken on Saturday due to party pressures. “A CLP leader in Haryana could be announced tomorrow (Saturday) but a decision on the Maharashtra CLP leader would be delayed,” authoritative sources in the Congress said here Friday night.