Kumari Selja appointed Haryana Congress chief; Bhupinder Hooda to head CLP, chair election committee
The Congress party has appointed Kumari Selja as the chief of Haryana Congress. Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been elected as the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and Chairman of the State Election Committee in Haryana.
Last week, Hooda along with Haryana party in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad met Sonia Gandhi at her residence almost a week after the former Haryana Chief Minister addressed a mega rally in the state.
Hooda, while addressing a mega rally in Haryana's Rohtak on August 18, had cautioned the party and also supported the Modi government's move to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution.
Hooda had also announced a 25-member panel, comprising 13 MLAs owing allegiance to him, to decide the future of the party in the state.
The decision of the 25-member committee "will later be announced in Chandigarh," he said.
It was a clear signal to the central Congress leadership to hand over the party's reins in the state to Hooda, or else he would go his own way ahead of the Assembly polls slated for later this year.
Speculation was rife that two-time Chief Minister Hooda and his son Deepender Hooda, also a former MP, might quit the Congress after alleging that he was sidelined by the party high command.
On August 17, a day before the mega rally, Hooda had a closed-door meeting with top Congress leaders in New Delhi during which they tried to convince him not to take any hasty decision to quit the party as it had always accorded him due importance.
In the 2014 state polls, the BJP improved its 2009 tally of four to 47, followed by the INLD with 19 legislators and the Congress came third with 15 seats.
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