New Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today threw enough hints that his government was all set to roll back the controversial schemes introduced by the previous Om Prakash Chautala government as they ‘‘undermined democratic institutions’’.Coming out from a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Hooda said he would immediately scrap the ‘‘Sarkar Aapke Dwar’’ scheme under which the former chief minister had personally visited villages to look into their developmental problems. ‘‘This scheme made a mockery of the elected panchayats as the Chief Minister usurped their powers,’’ the CM said.Blaming Chautala for ‘centralisation’ of powers in his hands against the spirit of Panchayati Raj, Hooda said his predecessor’s populist schemes had been aimed at ‘‘self-publicity’’. The CM pointed out that the previous government’s decision to make panchayats ineffective with the setting up of ‘‘village developmental councils’’ would also be reviewed.Pointing out that ‘‘the Congress does not believe in politics of vindictiveness’’, Hooda said in the same breath that he would certainly order a probe into all the charges of corruption and misdeeds levelled by his party against the previous government.The CM, who apparently discussed the expansion of his Cabinet with the PM as well as with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said he is likely to announce his Cabinet ‘‘in a day or two’’. He said he feared no trouble from any quarter since all the ‘‘elected members have to work under the party directions’’. Hooda was also non-committal about the creation of a deputy CM’s post, which is expected to go to Bhajan Lal’s son, Chander Mohan.
