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Hooda elected leader, Bhajan camp abstains 

     New Delhi: As many as 47 newly elected Haryana Congress MLAs, out of the total 67, today elected Bhupinder Singh Hooda as their leader to be installed as the next CM. The meeting, which lasted more than an hour, took place at the Parliament Annexe under the supervision of three party observers - PM Sayeed, Ashok Gehlot and Janardhan Dwivedi. Bhajan Lal along with 19 other Congress MLAs, including his elder son Chandar Mohan kept away from the meeting. Sources said that among those who attended the meeting were four- five MLAs who till this morning belonged to Bhajan Lal group, but changed their allegiance at the last minute. While the meeting was about to start, this correspondent contacted Bhajan Lal over phone to inquire if he would be attending the meeting, he said, "what meeting you are talking about. How many MLAs have reached the Parliament Annexe.......even now 32 MLAs are sitting in front of me." Later, he categorically shot back, "I won't be attending the meeting."

     Besides the party central observers, those present on the occasion included party MPs from the state Avtar Singh Bhadana, Kumari Selja, Atma Singh Gill, Rao Inderjeet Singh, Naveen Jindal. Bhajan Lal's son Kuldeep Bishnoi didn't attend the meeting. Party MLA from Kalanaur Kartari Devi proposed Hooda's name, which was seconded by as many as 7-8 MLAs. Party observer and union minister PM Sayeed later told media persons, "Hooda was unanimously elected as the leader of Congress MLAs. There was no voice of discontent heard at the meeting." Meanwhile, Bhajan Lal, apparently disgruntled with the latest developments, resigned from the post of Haryana PCC president. He claimed, "Congress president Sonia Gandhi offered me Governorship, deputy chief ministership to my elder son Chandar Mohan and union cabinet berth to my younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi, but I declined all the three options." Reports were rife that Sonia even called up Bhajan Lal to come and meet her, but the latter didn't oblige.

New Haryana CM a veteran Congress leader's son  (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

     New Delhi: Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is to take oath of next Haryana CM in a day or two, belongs to a well educated political family of the state. Only a few know that his father Ch. Ranbir Singh Hooda (91), a veteran Congressman in Haryana politics, has been a member of seven different Assemblies since 1947. He was a member of the Constituent Assembly (in 1947), Constituent Assembly Legislature, Provincial Parliament, Lok Sabha (in 1952 and 1957), Punjab Vidhan Sabha (1962-67), Haryana Assembly, and then member of Rajya Sabha (in 1972 and 1978). Ch. Ranbir himself says, "I have always been a staunch Congressman throughout my political career spanning around 58 years i.e. since 1947. I was close to the Nehru-Gandhi family, but never accepted a cabinet berth.......I always tried to serve the people of Haryana and root out corruption from the state. I could not become the CM....but with God's grace today my son has made it." Today, the Congress leader was present inside the Parliament Annexe building where newly elected Congress legislators elected their leader. After emerging out of the meeting room, the CM-in- the waiting touched his father's feet and sought his blessings for his next political venture. Popularly known as Chowdhary in political circles, Ranbir speaks fluent English, but faces slight difficulty while hearing. "I completed my BA in 1938 from Delhi University's Ramjas College. I always encouraged my children for higher education and turn into good statesmen," he says with a gleam in his eyes. He also boasts of taking part in the Independence struggle. With much pride he says, "you know I have a record of going to eight different jails during the freedom struggle. During Satyagrah movement and Quit India movement I went to different jails of Multan, Lahore, Siyalkot, Firozepur, Hisar and Rohtak." Besides, Ch. Ranbir has headed several bodies, including the Ex- MPs' Association. Currently he is the working president of All India Freedom Fighters' Organisation and is available at its office - 7 Jantar Mantar.

Centre decides to impose Prez rule in Goa (Go To Top)

     Panaji: The Centre has decided to impose President's rule in Goa, said Home Minister Shivraj Patil. The Assembly will be kept under suspended animation. The decision came at a hurridly called meeting, hours after Chief Minister Pratap Singh Rane won a vote of confidence in the State Assembly with the Pro-tem Speaker Fransisco Saldinha's vote. Patil told that the centre was not glad with what happened in the State Assembly and has recommended this action without waiting for the Governor's report. "What has happened in the Assembly today is not acceptable to us. It is not proper to have one member not to vote. This is exactly what has been done by the previous government," he said. Both BJP and Congress were tied at 16 votes in the Goa assembly and the Speaker's vote had to decided the fate of the Rane government. Earlier, the Speaker had restrained UGDP MLA Mathany Saldanha from voting on the basis of disqualification petition against him filed by the Congress member Jitendra Deshprabhu. Saldanha had voted for the BJP in the earlier trial of strength going against his party's whip. The grand finale was expected to be in Congress way because it had to be either the Congress government winning the trust vote or the state itnessing the President's rule. And in no case the BJP government is expected to come back into the power. The 40-member Assembly had the effective strength of only 34 MLAs with both Congress and BJP claiming to have the support of 17 each. But the fate of UGDP MLA Mathany Saldanha held the key to the outcome of the grand finale. Earlier, the BJP had alleged that the Speaker, who is also a congress leader, would "illegally" disqualify UGDP MLA Saldanha.

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