Hooda gets a weeks time,calls HJC Cong kin

After Congress president Sonia Gandhi put a stamp of approval on his name late on Saturday night,Bhupinder Singh Hooda took over...

After Congress president Sonia Gandhi put a stamp of approval on his name late on Saturday night,Bhupinder Singh Hooda took over as the Chief Minister of Haryana for the second consecutive term on Sunday. Governor Jagannath Pahadia,who swore in Hooda,later asked him to prove his majority in the House by October 31.

Chaos prevailed at the totally mismanaged five-minute ceremony as Hooda was administered oath of office and secrecy by Pahadia. Many senior Congress leaders did not get even seating space as Raj Bhavan became a free for all. No other minister apart from Hooda took oath today.

While most of the MPs,former ministers and Congress MLAs attended the ceremony,Union Minister for Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja and former finance minister Birender Singh both considered Hooda rivals were conspicuous by their absence. All the three Congress observers for the state,Mohsina Kidwai,Prithviraj Chavan and B K Hariprasad,attended the ceremony,and had to be adjusted in seats besides the stage as no space could be found in the front row.

Immediately after he was sworn in,Hooda said the Governor had given him one weeks time to prove his majority. He added that he would name his ministers only after that.

In response to a question on the Haryana Janhit Congress HJC,he said: The HJC was part of the Congress family but somehow drifted away. Now if they give unconditional support,they are welcome.

Thanking Congress president Sonia Gandhi for reposing her faith in me,Hooda added: I will try to come up to her expectations.

The 62-year-old has now achieved the distinction of leading a party back to a second consecutive term for the first time in the state since Bansi Lal did the same in 1972. Interestingly,Bansi Lal too had advanced the elections by one year that time. Hooda has also joined the ranks of six Haryana chief ministers to have held the post twice after Om Prakash Chautala five times,Bansi Lal four times,Bhajan Lal thrice,Devi Lal twice and Banarsi Das Gupta twice.

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However,the going is not likely to be easy for Hooda,with both a resurgent Indian National Lok Dal under Om Prakash Chautala and Bhajan Lal giving him a hard time. While there is no love lost between Chautala and Bhajan Lal,it wont be surprising if the two join hands against the Chief Minister,who will stay on the razors edge given his governments thin majority. Observers do not rule out the possibility of Bhajan Lal engineering a split in the Congress.

Even within the Congress,the going wont be easy with half-a-dozen senior leaders making their dislike for Hooda quite evident. Many among them were in the race for the chief ministers chair,blaming Hooda for the shock performance in Haryana.