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Hooda next Haryana CM, Bhajan sulks
In a dramatic development, the Congress on Friday picked Jat leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the next Chief Minister of Haryana.
In a dramatic development, the Congress on Friday picked Jat leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the next Chief Minister of Haryana, sending veteran politician Bhajan Lal into a sulk.
A Congress leader announced his name after a meeting of Haryana's Congress legislators in New Delhi that was boycotted by supporters of Bhajan Lal, who had been widely seen as the frontrunner for the job.
An upset Bhajan Lal was reported to have told his supporters that if everything was to be decided by party President Sonia Gandhi, what was the object of having a legislature party meeting?
The Congress won 67 out of 90 assembly seats in the February 3 elections, getting a clear three-fourth majority.
Hooda, who represents Rohtak, was a former state Congress president and was replaced by Bhajan Lal only in 2003.
With his name being finalised, Hooda would have to give up his Rohtak Lok Sabha seat and contest assembly polls within six months.
His traditional assembly seat was Kiloi and he had even tried getting the party ticket this time but was refused.
Fierce infighting gripped the Haryana Congress as results came out on February 27. The divide within the Congress was between Jats and non-Jats.
Hooda and two other contenders for the post - Birender Singh and Randeep Singh Surjewala - belong to the politically dominant Jat community, while Bhajan Lal is a Bishnoi.
Pressure was mounting on the central party leadership that the Jat community had returned Congress candidates overwhelmingly and, therefore, only a Jat should be the next Chief Minister.
According to some party sources, Bhajan Lal had at least 32 supporters on Friday morning at his residence in New Delhi.
Senior leaders within the party said that his name was nearly finalised on Friday but pressure from the other camp mounted.
Leaders supporting Bhajan Lal said he had declined an offer for governorship from the party high command.
One of the formulas extended by the Congress high command was that a Jat leader be made Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and then the Chief Minister, while Bhajan Lal's son, Chander Mohan, be appointed Deputy Chief Minister.
The Bhajan Lal camp was also offered five ministerial berths also out of the 14-member ministry that would be installed. But he is believed to have rejected the offer.
