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Move to replace Bhajan Lal as Congress chief backfires

By Rajesh Ahuja

CHANDIGARH, NOV.4. Moves by political opponents of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal to get him "ousted'' from leadership of the Haryana unit of the Congress seem to have "backfired'' -- at least for the time being.

Interestingly, close associates of a handful of Jat Congress leaders angling for Chief Ministership in case the party came to power in the Haryana Assembly elections due early next year informed mediapersons yesterday that Mr.Bhajan Lal was being sent to Maharashtra as Governor. They also said and that the former party president and Member of Parliament from Rohtak, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was in the race to replace him. It was also projected that Mr.Bhajan Lal would be asked to step down at a meeting convened by the AICC general secretary, Janardhan Dwivedi, in New Delhi on Wednesday evening. Later, however, it was being claimed that the Union Minister from Haryana, Selja, would be appointed the Haryana PCC chief and Mr.Bhajan Lal's son, Chander Mohan, would be accommodated as president of the Haryana unit of the Indian Youth Congress.

However, according to highly-placed sources, Mr.Bhajan Lal, who served as Chief Minister of Haryana for almost 13 years and is regarded not only as a wily "politician and manipulator'' but also a mass leader, is understood to have recently met the party supremo, Sonia Gandhi, and expressed "anguish'' over media reports being floated by his opponents. He told her that the opponents were spreading the rumour that he was being "axed'' even though the Congress had won nine out of 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana during the recent Lok Sabha polls. It is learnt that he also pointed out that the Congress had fared badly in the State during the tenure of his predecessor. The sources told The Hindu that the party president assured him that there was no move to remove him.

It is reliably learnt that Mr.Bhajan Lal met Mr.Dwivedi yesterday and categorically told him that those spreading the rumour that he had been asked to "resign'' should be sternly dealt with. Moreover, he made it clear that he would never accept Governorship and if the party High Command wanted to replace him, it should do so now instead of later on the eve of the elections as he would not resign on his own to oblige his detractors.

The sources claimed that the meeting had been convened to discuss the future strategy of the party including preparedness for the forthcoming elections and the issue of "axing'' Mr.Bhajan Lal was not even part of the agenda. According to political observers, the move to replace Mr.Bhajan Lal at this "critical juncture'' could prove counter-productive for the party and the AICC seems to have got the message as was evident from Mr.Dwivedi's categorical denial before the media about any move to replace him at present.

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