Hooda146;s Predicament

Hooda began on a positive note and with the unique record of holding the post of state chief minister outside the families of the famous three Lals of Haryana after a long long time. He had an enviable three-fourth majority in the state assembly and held out great expectations for a clean and good administration. Yet, barely six months into his rule, the Hooda government appears to have hit road blocks.

Labour unrest in Gurgaon, which exposed to media glare the brutal side of the Haryana Police, evidently took the government by surprise. But those closely following the Honda agitation knew what was brewing. More than anything else, it was an intelligence and administrative failure at the ground level. Forced to move the DC and SSP, the chief minister let the incident get out of public attention by ordering an inquiry. No sooner had the dust settled over the issue when the Gohana incident, in which houses and belongings of Dalit families were destroyed, hit the headlines. Yet again it was administrative and intelligence laxity as the animosity between the two communities was simmering for some time and the local administration was quite aware of the developments. In either of the two cases, the district administration did not take preventive or preemptive steps to deal with the emerging situation.

Hooda, who had never held any ministerial portfolio at the Centre or in the state, evidently had been banking too heavily on his close aides 8211; most of whom also lack administrative experience. Also, a large part of the bureaucracy in the state is identified with one or the other leader from both the ruling party and the opposition. They prefer to abide by the signals from their benefactors. Since Hooda does not have much stake in administration, despite his being elected thrice to Lok Sabha, he has few loyal officers on whom he can depend.

Worse, given the fact that he had little say in the appointment of ministers with the party high command trying to balance out the various pressure groups, he has not received the unstinted support from his ministerial colleagues. Hardly one or two of them came to his defence following the incidents at Gurgaon and Gohana, though Hooda says he had himself asked them to lie low. In fact, some of them have been privately critical of his handling the situations.

His hands are also tied due to an unprecedented and ironic set up in the state involving his party and the government.

The current working president of the party, Randeep Singh Surjewala is one of the junior-most ministers in the Hooda government. The deputy chief minister Chander Mohan, son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, holds one of the most inconsequential portfolios and has earned a reputation of being the quietest of deputy CMs. A former state Congress chief, Birender Singh, himself a contender for the top post, has not reconciled to his having to work under Hooda. And Bhajan Lal is in no mood to cooperate with the chief minister. No wonder the party high command has been unable to finalise the name of the new state party chief even though it has done so for practically all other states.

Bhajan Lal had publicly stated that the Hooda government was not likely to last very long. The wily politician had been keeping his cards close to his chest. And now Hooda is getting the jitters with several party MLAs, and half of his ministers, calling on Bhajan Lal over the last few days, ostensibly to enquire about his health. Hooda8217;s decision to field his son from the Rohtak Lok Sabha constituency vacated by him has caused some heart burn. He would have realised by now that the crown he is wearing is not all that comfortable, and he has to tackle all the constraints to provide effective governance.