Chandigarh, October 24
Caretaker Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will take charge of Haryana for a second innings with the Congress high command finally putting its stamp on his name in Delhi around midnight. He is likely to take oath tomorrow.

The Congress Legislature party (CLP) had yesterday passed a resolution authorising UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to identify a “suitable” candidate from among the leaders of Haryana.

His appointment as the Chief Minister comes despite a fierce tug-of-war between the pro-Hooda camp and his detractors ever since the election bugle in the state was sounded, which intensified with the announcement of results.

However, in the end, Hooda managed to retain the Chief Minister’s crown despite hectic lobbying against him by his detractors. The high command, it is learnt, chose to brush aside “complaints of detractors” and gave Hooda a second chance.

Yesterday, the Congress had staked claim to form the next government in Haryana by virtue of being the single largest party. State unit president Phool Chand Mullana presented a letter to this effect to Governor Jagannath Pahadia.

The fact that the move had been rushed through to counter an attempt by Indian National Lok Dal supremo Om Prakash Chautala to make a similar representation was evident in the fact that the party staked its claim without electing a CLP leader. The usual practice is that the party first elects its CLP leader, who then stakes claim to form the government, after which the Governor invites him.

During the day, hectic parleys were on between the Central leaders appointed to seek a feedback from the CLP and the Members of Parliament from Haryana in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on their choice of candidate.

Even as MPs in the anti-Hooda camp made their point against his re-anointment to the Central leadership and the party got down to identifying the reasons behind the “unexpected results” which brought down the party strength in the assembly from 65 to 40.

For this, most members blamed the alleged lopsided development, wherein areas other than Rohtak were being given step-motherly treatment, as also infighting and poor selection of candidates, sources said.

The issue of merger of Bhajan Lal’s Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) into the Congress was also discussed at the meeting. Most of the members were of the opinion that MLAs of the HJC should be allowed to join the party only after a government was in place.

Meanwhile, former Finance Minister Birender Singh, who lost from Uchana Kalan in Jind by a narrow margin, met the UPA chairperson in Delhi. Sources said he squarely blamed the state leadership for his defeat highlighting that Hooda’s influence was confined to the Rohtak belt and his magic miserably failed even in Jind, which has three Jat-dominated seats.

Later in the day, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also met Sonia Gandhi though what transpired at the meeting was not exactly known.

In fact, all through the day, rumours of all kinds kept doing the rounds. They ranged from Central forces being deployed in the Rohtak-Jhajjar-Sonepat belt to keep Hooda supporters in check after the high command announces a “name other-than-that of Hooda” to rumours of Union Minister Selja being given the post. As the day progressed, names of MPs Rao Indrajeet and Naveen Jindal also began finding mention for the post.