The uncertainty over Bhupinder Singh Hooda retaining office as Haryana chief minister continued on Saturday. Non-Jat leaders and at least 10 of the Congress’ 40 MLAs in the state are reportedly opposed to the Jat strongman’s claim to the top office.
Hectic parleys to decide the chief minister for the state continued through the day after the CLP meeting in Chandigarh late on Friday left the decision of appointing the CM to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Party general secretaries and observers for the state Mohsina Kidwai, Prithviraj Chavan and BK Hariprasad along with all nine parliamentarians of the party from Haryana met Sonia Gandhi during the day to discuss the leadership issue.
Sources claim that Hooda, who reached Delhi on Saturday evening to meet Sonia Gandhi and the party’s observers, remains the frontrunner for the CM’s post. However, it is by no means certain that he would reprise his role in the top office. Union minister and Ambala MP Kumari Selja and Tosham MLA Kiran Chaudhary are the other contenders for the top job.
The strongest opposition to Hooda’s candidature is from the party’s non-Jat lobby in the state, led by Selja. The non-Jats in Haryana, who comprise over 75 per cent of the electorate, have traditionally voted for the Congress. The party’s stunning victory in 2005 had been largely seen as a mandate against the Jat regime of Om Prakash Chautala’s INLD.
However, the party had then sidelined its non-Jat mascot Bhajan Lal who had led the party to victory and sprung a surprise by appointing Hooda as the CM. An irked Bhajan Lal later quit the Congress to form the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), which has now emerged as a potential kingmaker, getting six MLAs.
Selja and other non-Jat leaders like Faridabad MP Avtar Singh Bhadana and Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh, claim that repeating Hooda would steer the non-Jat voters away from the party.
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