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Haryana suspense may end today

By Rajesh Ahuja

CHANDIGARH, MARCH 3. It was yet another day of endless suspense for the 67 newly- elected Congress MLAs in Haryana as the party High Command did not announce the name of the Chief Minister. According to sources, the name, which has reportedly been cleared by the party president, Sonia Gandhi, at a high-level meeting of senior party leaders in New Delhi today, would be unveiled at yet another meeting of the party MLAs scheduled to be held here at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

According to political observers, the meeting of the legislators would be merely a formality as the party observers -- Union Minister P.M.Sayeed and the two party general secretaries, Ashok Gehlot and Janardhan Dwivedi -- would announce the name and ask the legislators to formally endorse it. And if all goes well, the oath could be administered tomorrow itself.

It is being said that the party High Command is treading very carefully in Haryana given the intense factionalism prevailing in the party and the "ambitions'' of some MLAs and MPs to occupy the top slot come what may. Moreover, the Central leadership is well aware of the fact that the former Chief Minister and front-runner, Bhajan Lal, has the numerical strength of newly-elected MLAs in his favour as reportedly became evident in the CLP meeting held here on March 1 when all MLAs were individually interviewed. It is to be seen whether the High Command has made up its mind to give an opportunity to Mr.Bhajan Lal to become Chief Minister for the fourth term or give the job to some younger person, whether a MP or a MLA. It may be recalled that the sitting Rohtak MP, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, is equally determined to occupy the top post in the State. The other names that are doing the rounds are the Union Minister, Selja, the working president of the Haryana unit, Randeep Singh Surjewala, his father, Shamsher Singh Surjewala, and the former PCC chief, Birender Singh. The CLP meeting on March 1 had unanimously authorised Ms. Sonia Gandhi to decide the name of the CLP leader.

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