Congress president nominates Hooda as Haryana chief minister

Parliamentarian Bhupinder Singh Hooda will be the new chief minister of Haryana.

The 57-year-old Jat community leader was chosen leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) at a meeting held in New Delhi yesterday.

The meeting was boycotted by former Haryana chief minister and state unit president Bhajan Lal.

Hooda's election to the post has brought curtains on suspense since the party had contested Haryana elections, which it won with a massive mandate.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi exercised her right to nominate the new chief minister after she was authorised by the CLP following deep divisions within the party. There were nearly half a dozen claimants to the post.

The CLP meeting, second in last four days, was attended by 50 of its 67 newly-elected lawmakers in Haryana, besides 8 of 9 Lok Sabha members from the state.

Bhajan Lal along with his two sons, parliamentarian Kuldip Bishnoi and Chandar Mohan, elected to the Haryana assembly for the fourth consecutive term, boycotted the meeting.

Bhajan Lal, thrice chief minister of the state, earlier met Sonia Gandhi. It was learnt that he was offered Governorship of Orissa, which he declined it.

Going strictly by the law book, Bhajan Lal had a natural claim on the top job since 34 of 67 lawmakers supported his candidature.

However, while half of them remained steadfastly loyal to him and joined him in boycotting the CLP meeting, 17 of them put the party ahead of leader and decided to attend the meeting.

General secretaries Ashok Gehlot and Janardhan Dwivedi along with federal Power Minister P.M. Sayeed the three observers appointed by Sonia informed the CLP that the party chief had opted for Hooda to head the state government.

His election became just a formality while Bhajan Lal's supporters shouted slogans outside the venue to lodge their protest.

Bhajan Lal's claim to the post was that the party had won 9 of the 10 Lok Sabha seats from Haryana and 67 of the 90 seats in the assembly while he was the state president.

However, two factors went against him. Bhajan Lal had no better reputation than Om Prakash Chautala's. The outgoing chief minister's Indian National Lok Dal was rejected by voters because of allegations of rampant corruption against him.

Sonia was also not willing to risk the Jat voters by appointing a non-Jat to the post as it was their support that gave the party twin victories in the state.

Since the idea was to cement it ties with the influential Jat community, the choice narrowed down to Hooda, Chaudhary Birender Singh and youthful working president of the state unit, Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Hooda emerged on top of the list since it was due to his untiring effort that Haryana's Jats shifted their loyalty, deserting Chautala for the Congress party.

It is not yet clear if the enraged Bhajan Lal faction will accept the offer of his son Chandar Mohan being made deputy chief minister.

Hooda is currently a Member of Parliament from Rohtak. He emerged as a potential leader after he acquired the image of a giant killer, defeating Jat patriarch and Chautala's father Devi Lal thrice in Lok Sabha elections.

He is expected to formally stake his claim to form the government today, nine years after the party was voted out of power with Bhajan Lal at its helm.