Congress MLAs meet as Bhupinder Hooda aims to shake off Haryana poll debacle stain ahead of legislature party meeting

The former Haryana CM denied having any discussion about legislature party leadership and said a meeting of the Legislature Party will be held in Chandigarh on October 18.

New Delhi: Thirty-one of 37 Congress MLAs owing allegiance to former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda gathered at the residence of his son Deepender, a Lok Sabha MP, here on Wednesday, in what is seen as a show of strength ahead of a crucial meeting of legislature party to choose its leader.

Five MLAs – Aditya Surjewala, Renu Bala, Chandramohan Bishnoi, Shelly Choudhary and Akram Khan – did not attend the meeting while newly-elected lawmakers like Vinesh Phogat were present. Those who did not come for the meeting are linked to Hooda detractors.

Hooda told reporters after the meeting, “It was an informal gathering. There are some newly-elected MLAs and old ones. They wanted to meet and greet. We had some discussion and everyone expressed their commitment to fight for Haryana, the nation, and the party.”

However, he denied having any discussion about legislature party leadership. Hooda said a meeting of the Legislature Party will be held in Chandigarh on October 18.

While Hooda has publicly said that the party will decide on his future role, the Jat strongman is unlikely to yield for a change and the meeting of the MLAs is seen as sending a signal to the central leadership about the support he enjoys in the party.

With Haryana Congress facing a debacle in the state elections despite being tipped to win, knives are out for Hooda with his detractors, including Kumari Selja, are likely to up the ante against him and lobby for a new face to lead the party in the Assembly. Hooda has been the Leader of Opposition since 2019.

Some of the candidates have blamed Hooda for their defeat. At a meeting of senior observers for Haryana, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has said that state leaders kept their interests above the party's interests and that was the reason for the debacle.

The party has deputed senior observers Ashok Gehlot, Ajay Maken and Partap Singh Bajwa to Haryana and they are expected to speak to all the MLAs to find their choice for the post of legislature party leader.

It is to be seen whether Hooda or his chosen person is announced as leader or whether a resolution authorising Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will be passed as was done in Jammu and Kashmir, which went to polls along with Haryana. Ghulam Ahmed Mir was chosen as legislature party leader by Kharge after a resolution was passed by elected MLAs