New Delhi: Congress leaders from Haryana
on Saturday held a series of consultations to arrive at a consensus
for the post of Chief Minister in the state, where the party
is all set to form government.
The meeting of the state leaders, who included the MPs
from the state, came a day after the Congress Legislature
Party at its meeting in Chandigarh authorised Congress
President Sonia Gandhi to pick a candidate for the chief
ministership, party sources said.
The leaders, who met at the residence of AICC observer
for Haryana Mohsina Kidwai, included Chief Minister Bhupinder
Singh Hooda, Haryana Congress president Phool Chand Mullana,
all nine party MPs from the state and former CLP leader Ajay
Yadav.
While Hooda was absent in the first meeting this
morning, he joined the leaders for the second round of
discussions that took place later in the day, sources said.
AICC observer Prithviraj Chavan, who is also party
general secretary in-charge of the state, and another
observer B K Hariprasad were present during the discussions to
arrive at a consensus.
It is not immediately known whose name the meeting
recommended for leadership in the state.
Sources said the AICC observers would convey to Gandhi
the outcome of the meeting.
They said the AICC observers had already submitted a
report to Gandhi on the feed back from the newly-elected MLAs,
who met in Chandigarh yesterday.
Congress won 40 seats in the 90-member state Assembly
in the elections this month, six short of simple majority.
However, the party got the support of all seven
Independents MLAs and staked claim to form government after
meeting the Governor yesterday.
Since then, there have been a suspense whether
Hooda would be allowed to continue by the party high command,
considering that the party performed below expectations in the
Assembly polls.
Other strong contenders for the Chief Minister`s chair
are union minister Kumari Selja and state minister Kiran
Chaudhary, both of whom had met Gandhi after the Assembly poll
results were out.
Bureau Report
