Chandigarh, October 22
The Congress, which fell six short of majority when the Haryana electorate delivered a fractured verdict today, turned the tables on the opposition by late in the night. Six Independent candidates faxed their letters of support to the Congress to Governor Jagannath Pahadia, paving the way for the formation of the Congress government in the state once again.

According to ruling party sources, the seventh Independent MLA Prahlad Singh Gillankhera from Fatehabad was on his way to Delhi to extend his support to the Congress.

Those who have already faxed the letters of support to the Governor are Sultan (Pundri), Gopal Kanda (Sirsa), Shiv Charan Tezpal (Faridabad NIT), Jaleb Khan (Hathin), Sukhbir Kataria (Gurgaon) and Om Prakash Jain (Panipat). Now the Congress enjoys the support of 47 MLAs in the house of 90.

According to a report from Sirsa, Kanda, who was approached by a member of the Chautala family immediately after the counting concluded, left the town for Delhi in his personal aircraft amidst tight security by the BSF and the local police. During the day, as the counting of votes concluded, it became clear that while the Congress had emerged as the single largest party with 40 seats, the main opposition party, the INLD of Om Prakash Chautala and its ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal, was not far behind with 32 seats. Kuldeep Bishnoi’s Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), with six seats and seven Independents held the key to the formation of the next government.

It is not yet clear if the Congress would formally stake its claim to form the government tomorrow before the Governor. The party will have to first hold a meeting of its legislature party to elect its leader, who will stake the claim before the Governor. If the meeting is held tomorrow in Delhi, the leader of the Congress Legislature Party can stake his claim tomorrow evening or the day after.

Chautala, whose party made a remarkable recovery by winning 31 seats against nine it had in the dissolved house, had said in the day that the Congress should not form the government on moral grounds because the people had not given it a mandate to govern. The mandate, he claimed, was to the opposition to form the government. He said he would meet the governor to urge him to invite the opposition to form the government.

Bishnoi was keeping his cards close to his chest. Trying to remain equidistant from the Congress and the INLD, the HJC leader said he was surprised at the verdict. “I don’t know why the people have voted for a ‘liar (Hooda)’ and a ‘criminal (Chautala)’, while I had been doing ‘people’s politics’.”

Whom will he support? Bishnoi said he had convened a meeting of his MLAs in Delhi tomorrow where former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal would also be present. A decision would be taken at the meeting.

Meanwhile, sources close to Bishnoi say that he has been approached both by the Congress and the INLD. Even in the Congress, they say, both anti-Hooda and pro-Hooda factions have approached their leader. Obviously, the HJC leader would have struck a hard bargain. But now with the Independents extending support to the Congress, Bishnoi’s bargaining power will be reduced considerably.

The situation is more or less akin to that in 1982. The Congress under Bhajan Lal had emerged as the single largest party, but remained much short of majority. The Devi Lal-BJP pre-poll alliance was ahead of the Congress.

The then governor G.D. Tapase had sworn in Bhajan Lal as Chief Minister, who cobbled a majority before facing the Assembly.

According to a well-established practice, the governor calls the single largest party to form the government and prove its majority on the floor of the house within a stipulated time.

However, this time the Congress has taken care to first secure the support of the Independent candidates before approaching the Governor. This would avoid any controversy involving the constitutional authority.